


When Flowers Bloom

by CaptivatingLadySpinel



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Naruto
Genre: And comedic parts, Angst, But there are light parts, Death, F/M, Female Harry Potter, MOD! Harry Potter, Naruto Generation, Shinobi, Triplets!Harry Potter, World Hopping, kunoichi - Freeform, no happy ending, traumas
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:28:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 9
Words: 38,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23366209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptivatingLadySpinel/pseuds/CaptivatingLadySpinel
Summary: Dahlia, Primrose and Violet Potter are the first triplets born in the Wizarding World.However, thanks to James Potter's plan to leave the war-infected Community, he, his daughters and Sirius Black end up in another era, another world, where fighting and survival of the fittest rule. The Shinobi World.With great amounts of 'Chakra', the triplets are recruited into the Shinobi Force. What would entail to this foreign land for a family of Wizards to arrive? What would change in it?The Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, only knows this new family is filthy rich and he hit the jackpot!
Relationships: Gaara (Naruto)/Harry Potter, Harry Potter/Uchiha Itachi, Harry Potter/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 46
Kudos: 203
Collections: The Harry Potters





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> When it comes to crossovers between HP and Naruto, these are a few of my favorite pairings, so I wanted to make a fic with these pairings, and this came up! 
> 
> Again, this fic is not done, not halfway done, but considering we are stuck in our houses with nothing much to do, I will post it and update it weekly until I run out of written chapters. This is my meager contribution to stave off boredom, and to give you hope that this crisis will soon come to an end. 
> 
> Tags said that there is no happy ending and I meant it. Many things are canon compliance in the Naruto Universe, so you are warned. I just want to add my triplets somewhere in the mix of war and deaths, lol, and what changes they bring to the Shinobi World. If there are any. My triplets are not omnipotent, so don't hope for OP characters, they have their own personalities and ways to act. 
> 
> I also wanted to make a fic where James is alive and there is no bashing involved. Those fics depress me a bit. He and Sirius will bring the light and comedic parts of the fic together with the Sandaime, but overall it is a bit of a serious, and angsty fic. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy it, and let me know what you think about it!

* * *

"What are you saying James?"

The bespectacled Marauder looked at his best friend with heavy eyes. "Exactly what I said Padfoot. I want to leave England and this thrice damned war. I'm tired." He sighed.

Sirius Black stared at James Potter for what felt like minutes without saying a word. He took in the image his friend portrayed. They were still young, not even in their mid-twenties, but the war they involved themselves in had made them feel old and jaded. It was almost a decade since the war started, they grew up, they graduated, they entered the Aurors Force as they believed that with their help, the war would soon see an end. It was typical of Gryffindors to think themselves the solution to everything but this time, they were wrong.

They didn’t even know why they were fighting anymore. Wars never brought honor, only death.

At least James was a bit better giving himself a reason to his life away from the war, he had married Lily Evans, the love of his life, and then he became a Father. And it was the fact that James had to take care of his girls that he was able to leave the front lines. Sirius often helped babysitting too, he even moved into his friend's house to give James a couple of hours to regain his breath, so it was like that that Sirius realized how hard it was to raise kids. Since Lily died giving birth to their triplets, James wasn't the same reckless and brash guy; he had matured.

Sirius guessed parenthood did that to most.

Despite not having a wife, James did his very best to compensate for her absence learning by trial an error how to cook, to do the laundry, to take care of his daughters, to feed them, bath them, play with them and to keep the house clean- even if he failed most of the time. Having triplets was both a blessing and a curse at the same. A blessing, and therefore a miracle, because it was the first time Magical triplets were born in the whole history of Magicals and a curse because the pregnancy and birth of them takes a toll on the mother's body; in most cases and Lily's one too, death.

Normally, Magicals that were aware of having more than two children growing would either choose to abort so the mother would stay healthy to have more children in the future or try to carry them to term which resulted in premature death of the babies and the mother too. So far, only Magical creatures, like werewolves and vampire mates, are able to carry more than two children since it is known that not all the babies would be Magical. Lily Potter was the first witch able to carry her children to term even if she died after giving birth.

Sirius thought that James would be completely devastated with the death of his wife; after all, Potters are known to only marry once, something about their Magic binding them to their chosen partner. Instead, he dedicated his life to his daughters and to parenthood. Sirius supposed it was a way to cope with grief and not think too much about the person James had lost but for once the dog Marauder was glad of this change in his friend.

So, it came as a bit of a surprise that James confided on his desire to leave this country infested in a war that saw no end. As an Auror, Sirius understood where James was coming from. The Ministry was collapsing, the Death Eaters were getting more vicious and the order to kill on sight from Minister Bagnold left the Black Heir disillusioned to the idea of staying in Britain. If he felt like that, let’s not say about those non-involved people who were only waiting in tenterhooks how the war will end. But still...

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Sirius had to ask. Their lives and their friends were in England, so he didn't feel that good with leaving them behind.

They still didn’t know anything about Remus after the werewolf was sent to who knows where, Peter was safe in his house so he wasn’t worried about him, yet James looked ready to just pack up their stuff and leave by the back door without thinking of their friends. Certainly it was Marauder style, being sneaky and do things without anyone being the wiser but this time it was more than that. It was giving their backs to everybody and basically run away.

"I am a single parent with three daughters to take care of, Pads, we are not winning this war unless Merlin himself rises up from the dead and helps us. And reluctant as I am to say it, I don't want to act Gryffindor on this." The gurgle of a baby took their attention to the playpen that housed the aforementioned girls. Both men melted to the sight of the oldest of the three helping her other two sisters play with the toy cubes around them. Though it was more about choosing which cube looked better to bite and drool over.

It felt like yesterday when they were born all red, wrinkled and wailing like no tomorrow while James gushed over them saying they were so beautiful, and asking Sirius over and over ‘Aren’t they the most beautiful babies in the world, Pads?’ to which the dog Animagus would say yes over and over enjoying the happiness exuding from his best friend at being a Father.

The healer and nurse that attended Lily were sworn to secrecy before the birth of the Potter girls. As it was, only a selected few that consisted of James, Sirius, the Healer, the nurse and the now deceased Lily knew about the triplets, not even the Ministry has them registered. And they weren’t thinking of registering them in a while. Or at least not until the war was over, but seeing the situation they wonder what and when the end would be. So, basically, almost nobody knew that Lily was pregnant.

When Dumbledore asked them to go into hiding due to some shady prophecy, the old man noticed the fact by chance; even then, Dumbledore didn't know the Potters had triplets.

And it wasn't that both Sirius and James distrusted the Headmaster of Hogwarts but neither put much faith in a prophecy or any form of Divination to end a war. They staunchly believed in the force behind the people, the people that sadly was losing hope. So now, James had to take the safety of his daughters and his into his own hands since it seemed nobody was going to provide it in the war-infested Magical community. He even knew that it was reaching the Muggle world. They just covered it like some sort of terrorist attack -which was not so far from the truth to be honest.

"Ok," Sirius breathed. "Ok, I guess you are right." He heavily sat on one of the armchairs and stared at the fireplace. "How are you going to do it?"

Unspoken was the fact that the Ministry was corrupted to the core with just some of the Heads of Department doing their job as cleanly as possible, so using a mean that had to go through Ministerial processes, like a Portkey, was out. The Department of Magical Law-Enforcement had a tight control on who uses them and where it takes a person to. Also, the creation of an illegal one, no matter the urgency, was a one-way ticket to Azkaban without any trial -Martial Law and all that. All Floo Network was locked, not even the uppity and stuck-up Purebloods were exempt on having theirs opened.

The Ministry simply didn't want a more open invasion on the building through the Floo, as such, the usage of the Network was also a trip to the prison with not even a chance to explain.

Only Apparition was allowed freely; though St. Mungo, the Ministry and Hogsmeade were protected with heavy Wards that didn’t let just anybody in. Any person with the minimal desire to cause destruction, chaos and mayhem were knocked-out and directly thrown into a cell in the Ministry. Martial law had been in full-swing since the first attack of the self-proclaimed Dark Lord Voldemort and his Death Eater pets. Sirius wasn't going to complain about the extent to which the Ministry responded to the threats, they were very tight and very good; though no matter how many measures the Ministry took to calm the population, the desire to live was stronger in people, and oftentimes they fell prey to the sweet nothings of a madman. Soon enough, they were seen betraying their home country.

The cowards.

James only had the cottage after the Potter Mansion was destroyed in a raid, and Sirius didn’t want to depend on his family and the many houses they have not only in Britain, but in other countries, too.

All in all, their options were almost non-existent -Apparition being the only one. However, going around like headless chickens trying to find a place they could deem safe was not appealing at all. They would have to protect the girls, search a nice plot of land, make sure they wouldn't get attacked, create wards to better secure their new home and hope nobody finds them. Escaping before the International Portkeys were banned would have been the best solution. As it was, hopping around was not a good plan if James wanted to do this in less Gryffindor-style.

"I talked to the Goblins," James said taking Sirius out of his thoughts. "I went out late one night when they sent a letter asking for my presence for the arrangement of Lily's vault, her will and what she left to the girls," he added to Sirius' silent question of why and how he talked to the bloodthirsty creatures. Sirius decided to ignore the fact that James left the girls alone for however long he took to do all that at the bank and just gestured for him to continue. "They are willing to help me create a portal that would transport me to a house I didn't know I had but was the property of one of my ancestors who moved to some area in Japan." He finished.

"For a price?" Asked Sirius, the ghost of a smile on his lips.

"For a price," admitted James with a full-blown smile. Trust the goblins and their money-grubbing ways. At least they are willing to help even if they drain you of your gold. That's a better option than gallivanting around the country Apparating. It would be done in utmost secrecy if James was paying them for their aid so he was sure that this plan was almost well-thought.

"How and where are they going to create this portal thing?" Sirius thought that there really were many things that the goblins of Gringotts weren't telling the wizards and this portal that transported people was one. He supposed that there really was a place where they came from; and nobody really knew where the fabled Goblin Nation was located. With how mistrustful they were of wizards, they didn't dare to use any typical form of transportation like a wizard, hence the existence of this unique way of conveyance from the little creatures.

Another thing was that the cottage was under a Fidelius Charm, courtesy of Albus Dumbledore, and the less people knew where he was, the better. According to Dumbledore, Voldemort was in the know of the prophecy and was connecting the dots on the possible protagonists of the prophecy. Dumbledore believed the Potters, together with the Longbottoms -who have thrice defied the Dark Lord and lived to tell the story- were part of it. That’s why they were hiding.

The point was that it was not safe, paid goblin or not, to get into the house and work a portal to the other side of the world.

"That's how you come into this plan," said James a bit sheepish. The stag Animagus felt a bit bad to involve Sirius in this crazy plan of his but as his brother in all but blood, he guessed that it wouldn't be a problem. Of course, if he came with him and his daughters, then it would be even better. Let Sirius go chase some Japanese girls. "The goblins will provide with a one-time-use portal to the other house. I explained our situation so they accepted creating the portal in the Japanese house and we just have to create ours in the house. It will activate on Samhain for the boost in magic and make the process smoother due to the distance."

"Alright, sounds good. So we just have to make ours, not so bad," Sirius was up for the idea. It was safe, nobody would know, and it was basically a new life out there. He was liking it the more he thought about it. Only bad point was that they had to make a goblin portal... wait a minute. "We don't know how to make a goblin portal." He realized and his eyes searched his friend's. "How are we going to make it?"

"Well," James began, rubbing the back of his neck and avoiding Padfoot's eyes. "I surely can't leave the girls alone in the house while being in Gringotts learning, so you will have to go. They will tell you what to do, what to use and how to make it."

Silence descended on the place with only the random babble of a baby.

"WHAT?!" Sirius shrieked making everybody else jump and sending all three babies to tears. "Oh, no, no, sorry," both Marauders panicked and flailed to get the girls to stop crying, shaking toys, moving them up and down, presenting a snack or any other food only to be rejected until Sirius began singing one ridiculous song they used to sing at Hogwarts to annoy one Minerva McGonagall.

Back at Hogwarts a chill ran down the Transfiguration professor.

The song seemed to be working and both father and uncle danced and sang to their audience the inappropriate melody about wizards being cool and getting girls to then dumping them. They thanked the Heavens the girls were too young to pay attention to indecent lyrics and that they wouldn’t remember any of it. The youngest, Violet's laugh filled the room causing her sisters to giggled, the middle one, Primrose, was even clapping while the eldest, Dahlia, was covering her face as if embarrassed but that didn't stop the men from hearing her giggle behind her tiny hands.

At almost one-year-old, they were really smart even if they couldn't talk yet and had to spend most of their time in their playpen because since they started walking, they were a disaster and a half and James wasn't that good at cleaning. Even if his heart was all for the adrenaline, seeing his daughters getting in trouble was not worth the scare.

After their little show, Sirius sat back down in the armchair and saw how the girls finally accepted the plate with fruits James was offering before and left them snacking on it.

Sirius couldn't really believe it had been almost a year since they were born, all the nights without sleep he shared with James taking care of them, teaching them how to feed themselves even if they made a mess on their little faces, chasing them around the room while laughing. Then, they would start talking, asking hundreds of questions, learning how to ride a broom, how to be Gryffindors through and through; though if they were leaving the country, he supposed they would go to a Japanese school. Then, they would learn Japanese, go to school, meet friends, come back home with a guy… no, bad thought, bad thought.

"So?" James asked sitting on the armchair in front of him again.

"When do I start?" His friend Prongs smiled. Certainly Sirius wouldn't regret his decision.

* * *

  
  


Sirius was regretting his decision. Brothers or not, he didn't want to see another goblin in his life. Little buggers only knew how to sneer or snarl, even their smile was creepy as hell. He would surely to have a couple of nightmare starring goblins and their bloodthirsty ways. Nobody could deceive him, he noticed the swords and axes hung in the office of the goblin in charge of the Potter vaults and those were not rusty because of time; no, he knew old blood when he saw it. Not a surprise when ninety-nine percent of your family is vicious and mad as the next serial killer.

Two days spent between raids from the Aurors and half-assed classes from the goblins, and he was more than happy for the week to finish. But his job was not done there, no. After spending the week learning the runes used by the goblins and how to place said runes so the whole family -because he was following Prongs and his nieces out of the hellhole- wouldn't end up in Merlin knows where, splintered, he also needed to get a hold of the materials used for the portal circle. That half of the items were illegal for British wizards was not making Sirius happy. He was an Auror for Merlin's sake!

Though he supposed that those illegal items were more than normal in Japan and since that was their destination, half of the materials needed to come from there, according to the goblins. Without a doubt, Sirius would have to go undercover and use the Black name to get them in Knockturn Alley if he ever wanted to even see a corner of them shady ingredients at all. Oh, he sure as hell was going to be ripped off but it was an investment that he was more than happy to make.

"Pay attention Heir Black!" A goblin snarled. He snarled back not wanting to think about that Heir title.

Of course, first, he needed to survive the goblins, then he would think about how he was going to become a criminal for his brother.

* * *

  
  


Said brother was dead to the world in his living room, his youngest sleeping on him while Dahlia and Primrose were raiding the kitchen. As the oldest, Dahlia subconsciously knew she had to take care of her younger sisters so when Primrose woke her from her nap with a pout and a grumbling stomach, she had to provide for her. Her own grumbling stomach had nothing to do with it, not at all. Their short legs made quick work to reach the fridge which she knew held edible stuff. Her clumsy fingers and measly strength were enough to open the fridge and look for something to quell their hunger.

She scanned each bottle and container, her infant mind judging that none were things she could open without breaking them until her eyes lit up when she spotted some grapes in the upper part of the fridge. Of course, that’s when her smartness decided to abandon her and ended up struggling to reach the bag of grapes but her short legs and arms weren't helping her. Primrose stood by the side waiting for her sister to get her something to eat, yet seeing as she was taking too long reaching for those grapes, she decided to help.

She went back to the living room and looked for something she could use. Her eyes stopped on one of her toys, a box that popped up some animal that always made her cry and decided that it was good -her mind supplying a fuzzy memory in which she stood in the lowest step of the stairs and felt bigger. So, she dragged the box that was almost half her height across the room and into the kitchen but just when she was about to prompt her sister to use it to reach the grapes, she saw how the bag of grapes was levitating into her sister's waiting hand.

"Dahlia! Rosy!" They both jumped at their names being called and their heads snapped to the man standing by the kitchen’s door.

James had woken up to the sound of something being dragged and opened his eyes on time to see Primrose pushing a box towards the kitchen. He stood up with a groan careful not to dislodge Violet, carrying her in his arms, and followed his little flame -nickname she got due to her red hair- into the kitchen just to stop. His eyes almost bugged out of his skull when he noticed his oldest doing accidental magic and levitating a bag of grapes. He was equally scared and delighted; delighted and smug because his children were already doing Magic and scared because, what if it wasn't a bag of fruit but something more dangerous that she was trying to reach resulting in an injury?

Lily was surely cursing him wherever she was seeing as he let her daughters do something so dangerous. He sighed. "Come here, darlings, let's eat those grapes," he said with a voice that gave away his satisfaction and he was sure her daughters noticed, they were as smart as their Mother was. They followed like ducklings back to the living room where he helped them take out the seeds in the grapes to then seeing them eat their prize for their endeavor.

No matter how his brother, Sirius, saw it and said it, James knew that he was not the best father. His recklessness might be suppressed most of the times but there were occasions that it reared its ugly head. Lily was the logical person in their relationship, the voice of everything sane in his chaotic life and he missed her dearly in these moments when he didn't know if he had to be proud or not of his daughters’ achievements. Because even if Dahlia wouldn't have been able to do accidental magic, the fact that Primrose had the idea to use one of her toys for support to reach a higher place was worth of praise.

The consequences of either of them falling down from the toy and injuring themselves was not thought until when he replayed the situation in his mind while feeding his daughters.

He was utterly unprepared when the Healer announced his wife dead even when they knew something like that might happen at the end of the pregnancy, he just hoped against hope that Lily would be there with him while raising their children. Then he was thrust into the world of being a father of not one but three kids and he had been forced to resign from his Auror training, giving a half-assed excuse he was sure nobody believed, to take care of his daughters while learning how to be a parent and not die or kill his daughters in the process. He was so out of it during the first months that he had to ask Sirius to help him. He was sure begging and crying was involved but his memory of those months was a bit fuzzy.

Fortunately, he eventually got the hang of it and his frayed nerves as well as his daughters’ well-being thanked him for it. He really was sorry to Dahlia for the many times he jabbed her with the diaper pin making her cry, or to Violet when he forgot to feed her and she had to remind him with a tantrum, and let's not talk about that time Primrose slipped and almost drowned in the bathtub while he was cleaning her; that she always cried due to trauma afterwards when it was time for her bath said how scary the experience was for her.

Now, he knew more of how each of them behaved.

Dahlia subconsciously knew she was the oldest of the three so she led the other two and took care of them in the way only a baby can take care of their siblings which included giving away her own food or yield her toy so either of her sisters could use it when they asked for it. Surely most kids would fight for the right of playing with said toy but not his Dahlia, she was such a caring and giving child that he felt a bit bad for her; being the eldest wasn't easy. He just hoped that she developed some character when she grew up so nobody would take advantage of her. That's one job for him as a father for the future.

His Primrose, he feared for this daughter. She was such a cute girl that he knew sooner or later, he would serve some years in prison if some guy ever put their sticky fingers on her. He was aware that he was biased with his daughters and thought them all beautiful and cute and worth every minute of his life but Primrose was just too cute for her own good. Her red hair, same as his late wife Lily, her hazel, doe eyes and fair skin gave her a fairy-like complexion; that without counting her pouty lips, button like nose and round face, she truly was going to be the bane of all other girls and the target of those filthy boys. That's two jobs for him; protect his little Rose.

Violet was a bundle of energy that was always laughing or doing some mischief. Half his problems are just her and the other half involved her. He deduced all his Marauder gene was concentrated on this sole daughter that he could already feel the future headaches she was going to give him (he secretly thanked all the gods out there that his other two daughters were like Lily, calm as still water). As the youngest -and oh how she knew it- she was the one that threw the most tantrums and was the most dotted by her sisters. She was also the one that always made everybody laugh with her antics and coaxed her sisters to play whatever she wanted. Maybe he had to make sure she wasn't as arrogant as he was when growing up. Three jobs.

He was also grateful that each of his daughters was different not only in attitude but also in looks, if not he would have problems telling who was who. A Molly Weasley sneezed making her pause in her pursuit of two identical twins who were running around without clothes.

As such, even if all three inherited the cursed Potter hair that stuck in every direction, Dahlia's was black just like his with Lily's eyes, emerald. The face was all his just softer, getting all the aristocratic angles from a Potter; she was going to grow into an elegant lady, he was sure. Primrose, cute, sweet Rosy was all her mother including the hair except the eyes, those were his mother’s, the triplets' grandmother’s hazel eyes; though even if she was all Lily, she had even softer features. Violet was a mix of her grandmother -Lily’s mom- with the strawberry blonde hair, grey eyes with green flecks from him and Lily’s face with the Potter cheekbones.

She wouldn't grow elegant like Dahlia or cute like Rosy but she would still be beautiful on her own. Roguish beauty, his mind constantly supplied but he viciously ignored it, his daughter would be no rogue. James admitted that he was a daughter's fool and that he didn't mind that the Potter line would end with him. He just wanted his daughters to be happy and to never forget their old father and uncle Padfoot.

"James?" Said man woke up from his stupor and stopped idolizing his daughters who were already asleep in their gigantic cot. His feet took him to the living room where he knew Sirius would have already dropped on one of the armchairs. He still felt guilty to leave him the job of learning how to make that portal from the goblins but both knew the dangers of the wrong sort spotting James out in Diagon Alley.

"Something the matter, Sirius?" James asked when he saw the grim face on his brother. A bad feeling went through his body.

"The Ministry is all but taken," Sirius whispered but James heard it in the silence of the room. He gingerly seated on the couch, his hands covering his face. "People are succumbing to panic and the Order is the only one willing to fight, together with a couple of Aurors that are loyal to Mad-Eye Moody. I might not come back the next time I go to a raid." He mumbled that last sentence as an afterthought of the situation.

"Ok," replied James with a hoarse voice, he cleared his throat and took a big breath to calm himself. He never thought the situation would grow this dire. Perhaps he should have continue fighting... he stopped that line of thought and shook his head, it was not the time to think like a Gryffindor. Even if he still fought in the war it didn’t mean that he would make that much of a difference when the enemy was getting stronger. "What are we going to do?"

For a moment he thought of asking Sirius to not go outside but as much as he was reckless, Sirius was stubborn as a mule, so he wasn't going to accept his suggestion nor take it well. First of all, they would have to rehash plans and adapt; how he missed Lily to tell him what they could do, he wasn't as smart as her to think of something at the top of his head.

"I will continue those bloody lessons with the goblins," Sirius grumbled good-naturally to dispel the tension in the air, that worked a bit from the small smile on James' face. "Crouch has gone mad and is throwing people into Azkaban left, right and center so he most likely won't notice if I go missing more hours than necessary to learn those runes faster. I already have the list of the materials to use, so we can begin buying them or at least asking for them."

James accepted the parchment with a list of items used for rituals, or at least the ones he recognized, others were so obscure that he didn't know they existed and supposed those were the illegal ones. He didn't know where to begin getting those. "Any specific or special requirements while making the portal?" He asked while perusing the list. He was having the idea that maybe contacting a potions Master was the way to go.

"We make the outer layer in Lughnasadh and the details during Mabon. All the illegal materials go into the inner layer so we have time to get them. The last rune will be added on Samhain and that one will take us to the other house. The goblins promised us that the other portal would be done by the morning of Samhain so we can make the moving in the afternoon or evening, whenever you want." Sirius said. With everything else around him going to hell, he was relieved he hadn't forgotten the goblins' instructions.

James hummed, "I will ready the study and convert it into our portal room." He decided.

"Alright," Sirius groaned while standing up. "Old man Padfoot will scrape dinner's leftovers and then become dead to the world." James laughed at his brother's antics and followed him to the kitchen to ask about the situation out there with more details.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James' plan to leave is ongoing. 
> 
> Lord Voldemort is moving his pieces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today is the day to update this fic! 
> 
> On Friday we will continue with Knights. Then, I will update Fon's and Reborn's fics in the weekend. If I have the time, I will try to update the other fics for the days there are no updates, but we will see... I still have things to do at home plus my virtual clases and assignments. I hope you are doing fine! Don't forget to exercise at least once a day to stay healthy! 
> 
> Stay safe and beautiful! I'll see you on Friday!

* * *

Lord Voldemort was losing his patience with each day his Death Eaters didn’t bring him the information he needed. He thought it wouldn't be that difficult to get some hints as to whom the other person the prophecy was referring to. Severus was useful enough to provide with such important knowledge, and that's why he was rewarded becoming someone from his inner circle of Death Eaters. Now, if only the others could be as useful as the promising young man.

The old coot of Dumbledore thought he still had cards up his sleeve to stop the great Lord Voldemort, but Lord Voldemort knew better. The Ministry was practically his thanks to the fine contribution of his well-placed people, Lucius Malfoy was key for most of the Heads of the Departments supporting the cause and it was only a matter of time for them to get rid of Bagnold. They just needed to know where she was hiding. Plans to get rid of Bartemius Crouch Sr. were already being made and it was none other than his son that will see the end of the fool.

His spidery fingers twirled his wand making the new recruits in front of him flinch. He inwardly sneered; such weak filth wanting to join him, but he needed them, there was always need for cannon fodder, of course, and with the next raids he wanted to organize, they would be put to good use. While unleashing his aura on the weaklings prostrated on their knees, his eyes caught the figure of a man trembling like a leaf, his face was one he had seen somewhere. His gaze traveled to the only member of the inner circle present in the room, Severus Snape.

"Come forth, Severus," he called in a sibilant voice making the newbies shrink. Severus Snape glided out from the dark corner he was dwelling making the people near that corner start as he just calmly walked towards the throne getting to one knee asking in a low voice,

"My Lord?" Inwardly Severus’ gut was clenching and it was all his Occlumency could do for him to maintain a poker face. His Lord was many things but merciful was not one, so he didn't want to give him reason to send a Crucio his way for being a bumbling fool.

"Do you recognize him?" The Dark Lord lowly asked yet his voice reverberated in the room. All people present got even more nervous and prayed to any god that the monster they had in front wasn't talking about them. Severus turned to look at the person his Lord was pointing at, only to scowl.

"He is one of the friends from that rabble of Potter and Black, Peter Pettigrew," he drawled. The others let little sighs of relief but Peter's quivering got worse. "Looks like he finally showed that cowardly side of his and abandoned his friends, didn't you Wormtail?" Severus spat looking at the rat-look-alike man with disgust. Some honorable Gryffindor he made, betraying his comrades like that, not that he liked the whimpering man’s friends but they used to be so proud being honorable lions. Look how honorable he was now.

"Now Severus, it is not bad to have self-preservation, it is a Slytherin trait after all," Lord Voldemort quietly commented enjoying the flinch from Pettigrew. "Step forward Wormtail," he had to agree with Severus that this fool was disgusting with his cowardly disposition but Lord Voldemort was nothing but a good Lord and he saw the use to all his pawns. This one, he was going to be used as the first of the group to take the mark.

And without further ado, his hand shot and grabbed Pettigrew's left arm ignoring the jerk and the pull from his victim. He jabbed his wand into the tender skin of his forearm and cast, "Morsmordre," his eyes glittering in madness when the screams of pain started, his hand tightening the hold on the fool's arm. From the corner of his eye, he could see all the new recruits cowering and doing whatever they could to avoid looking at him.

Soon their turn would come.

The following half an hour was filled with screams of pain and maniacal laughter. Severus just stood to one side trying his best to ignore the howling by listing the ingredients and process for Felix Felicis, then Polyjuice and when he was about to be done with Amortentia, his Lord was done with the recruiting slash torturing and was giving the speech that many more had fallen for. Him included.

It wasn’t that Severus was convinced or persuaded by such shallow ideals, much less believed in them, they sounded more like the creation of a skewed utopia that was bound to self-destruct not even a year later of its creation. No, to him it was just that at that time when he heard the man sitting on that gaudy throne lauding him for his genius, he wanted to repay the man in a way. He wanted to be selfish once more and cling to the one who needed his knowledge in Potions.

Back then, he just never thought it was all a ruse to recruit gullible and desperate people. And that he willingly walked to the web to be eaten by the spider.

Lord Voldemort’s words were sweeter than honey and had more allure than a Veela, he identified your deepest desire and exploited it, that sooner or later you found yourself vowing eternal service to him. Severus always wondered why the man didn’t directly get himself involved in politics and decided to wage this pointless war that only made fine wizards and witches die in vain. To Severus, there were many more ways to be listened and pushing for change than attacking the same people that would benefit from your ideas.

But Severus was not a complete fool, he could see it, plain as day, as clear as crystal that the Dark Lord was not in his right mind, not totally gone but slipping by the day. And Severus could bet his puny life that there would be a time when the man would decide to do something so stupid that he will see his ruin. It was not hard to guess that it was all the result of very dark magic, but the question is, why would this man, powerful beyond measure resort to foul magic and a war to get what he wants?

What did he really get from all this, apart from a ruined country?

Severus musings were interrupted by the doors opening and in came a man who couldn’t have chosen a worse time to appear. It seemed the man noticed too, and hurriedly made his way in front of the throne and knelt waiting for his Lord to either apply punishment or show mercy.

“Your news better be good, Jugson.” Mercy it was.

“Yes, my Lord, I bring news that might be relevant to your search. A year ago, two groups of healers were called to attend two births a-and…” Jugson started to sweat and stutter seeing the Dark Lord tap impatiently. “It was Frank Longbottom and Sirius Black, we suspected both Alice Longbottom and Lily Potter gave birth to a child at the end of July and we managed to confirmed it in the registers in the Ministry. One Neville Longbottom was born on July 30th and while the Potters didn’t register their child, and the healers don’t seem to remember where they were or if it was boy or girl, they were very _cooperative_ in telling us a baby was born on the 31st.”

Severus knew that cooperation was torture and subsequent murder yet his mind didn’t linger in that thought when he noticed the growing smile on his Lord and dread filled his being. The stone settled in his stomach and jumped to his throat when he heard the verdict.

“It seems our target has been confirmed. I need to know where the Potters are.” A pause then his red eyes locked onto the sorry figure of one Peter Pettigrew. “Congratulations, Wormtail, your chance to prove yourself has arrived. Find the Potters.”

“Y-yes, m-my L-lord.” Pettigrew whimpered and scurried away.

“All of you dismissed, and well done Jugson.”

“My Lord!” Severus had seen many smug faces but he had never felt the desire to destroy one like Jugson’s. His dark eyes followed the man who had brought the news and had sentenced his most important person to death.

“Something wrong, Severus?” The silky voice made him tense, and he hid all his emotions behind his Occlumency shields.

“Nothing, my Lord.” His body stiffly bowed and he made his way out the room before the Dark Lord could read his thoughts. He had a Lily to find and warn.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Sirius Apparated in the front yard of the little cottage around noon carrying a box and a big smile on his face. He wandlessly opened the door and almost face-planted when he tripped on one of the squeaky toys haphazardly thrown on the floor. It seemed it had been a very active morning in the house, the thought made him smile even brighter, it was the girls’ birthday after all and he managed to slipped out to buy cake and spend lunch with the Potters.

He walked towards the kitchen where he could hear voices and laughs, deciding to partake in the fun only to get some mashed carrots in the face. The culprit, a giggling Violet, just laughed and kept trying to eat her lunch while throwing the rest. Needless to say, nobody was saved from her naughty ways and James just made sure that she truly ate her food until she was full.

“It seems our little Violet is already in the spirits to celebrate.” Sirius commented while putting the box with the cake in the fridge. Muggles really have nifty appliances and he thanked Lily from the bottom of his heart that she was able to make it work with magic.

“They all are. They seem to know there is something to celebrate today, Dahlia didn’t complain when I brushed her hair and even put all her hairpins in my hand as if asking me to put them on her hair,” Oh, yeah, Sirius could see that Dahlia had some pretty nice hair and Primrose was wearing a very pretty dress, he didn’t have to ask when James was already answering. “And Rosy chose her own clothes, she picked her favorite one. Violet just was in the mood from the moment she woke up.”

Fond and indulgent smiles blossomed in both men’s faces seeing the girls celebrating their first birthday.

Lunch was a noisy affair with Sirius added in it, and he left right after the girls fell down for their nap. He had to go pick up the first batch of materials to be used in the Runic circle for the transportation portal, as well as buying more presents for the girls, you could never have enough of those. James was of the same mind if the number of presents he listed were more than what were mentioned the day before. It seemed James had to sneakily leave the house again just to get more things for the girls.

Sirius arrived at the Apothecary, greeted the shifty owner (everybody acted the same these times) and luckily got his order fast enough. If only they were always as efficient as this. After a cursory checking of the stuff -he had to make sure he was getting what he was paying for-, he paid, put the items in a box he had prepared before, shrank said box and left.

Next stop was the Quality Quidditch Supplies, he had to get something to accompany the Toy Brooms James got for the girls, perhaps a Snitch for kids or a Quaffle; a set of bats and a Bludger would have to wait for when they were older. Finally, he decided for the Snitch, the thing was very convenient after all; not only it meant fun but it would also train their eye-hand coordination, their reaction and their decision-making. All things a decent wizard or witch needed for dueling or escaping from a person who thought pranking was not funny and you mistakenly pranked.

Up in the Scottish moors in the house of one Minerva McGonagall, she sneezed.

Gambol & Japes Jokeshop was his final stop. Despite their decline, and not being as popular as Zonko’s anymore, they had friendlier items for parties like those bouncy confetti balls that exploded in a myriad of colors when caught, and the balloons that changed shapes, the girls would certainly love them. He was more than ready to return to the Ministry to leave his purchases in his locker to pick them up after he was done with his shift (thank Merlin he didn’t have the night shift this week), when he noticed that the person who had been shadowing him from the moment he arrived at Diagon hadn’t left yet.

Whoever this person was, they had to work more in their sneakiness. As a Marauder, Sirius knew all the techniques that went from casually putting Dung Bombs in unsuspecting Slytherins to crawling into the Headmaster’s office to change all his robes to black. The man was not happy with the prank, even if all the other professors indirectly thanked them for the service done by getting rid of those gaudy and offending robes. So, when he had that kind of mastery, some other person sneaking on him was nigh impossible.

Sirius ducked into an alleyway, cast a Disillusionment Charm and waited for his tail to enter too. Seeing but a corner of the person's robe, Sirius acted and caught the person by their arm, flung them against the wall, cast an Incarcerous and jabbed his wand on the person’s temple. His pursuer whimpered pathetically and that was all they did for Sirius to recognize them.

“Peter?” Even then, he didn’t let down his guard and asked. “Why did James missed a Quidditch match in our Fifth year?”

“E-evans jinxed all his clothes to be invisible for a prank we did on S-snape, he couldn’t go out.”

Vicious Lily Potter was a prodigy in charms but that didn’t mean she wasn’t proficient in other branches, that was a very well done revenge if someone asked Sirius. They told everybody that James had caught some weird flu that’s why he couldn’t play, truth was if he ever stepped out of their room, he would have flashed everybody with his bits, not even wearing curtains or towels or another person’s uniform worked. They all thought that poor James was cursed instead of jinxed.

Sirius let go of Peter and helped him up.

“Seriously, where did all your Marauder training go? You were as conspicuous as a Troll in a Goblin party.” Seeing Peter looking ashamed, Sirius relented in his nagging. Peter was never the smartest of them.

“I just wanted to make sure it was truly you and not some impostor before greeting you.” Peter lamely explained.

“Well, you were smashed by my awesomeness, now you know it’s me.” The roguish smile on Sirius made Peter roll his eyes.

“Where are you going? I saw you buying many things, are you going to visit James?” Peter blurted out as soon as they began walking towards the Leaky Cauldron.

Sirius glanced at Peter’s nervous figure but still replied. “Going to the Ministry, that damn Crouch is working us as if we are slaves. Raid here, raid there, and we don’t catch anything. Many times we have to dissuade the fool it’s not a good idea to arrest Malfoy and register his house without a Warrant. It’s very troublesome even with Martial Law, there are procedures we can’t skip. We all know that wussy Malfoy is working for that madman but we don’t have enough proof and slippery Malfoy is very influential in the Pureblood circles, you know how politics works. Filthy Death Eater scum.” He spat with such vitriol that made Peter flinch.

“Y-yeah, things are getting out of control.” The rat Animagus stammered.

“That’s why you have to get somewhere safe, with your dueling abilities you will be dead the next second.” Sirius advised patting Peter’s shoulder. “Well, then, gotta go. See you around, or better not, nowhere is safe nowadays.” He grumbled then entered the Leaky Cauldron to use the Apparition point.

Peter just stood there looking at where Sirius disappeared with resentment in his eyes. He was aware he was not the sharpest knife in the drawer but he didn’t need to be told that so dismissively like Sirius did. He wasn’t cool as James, handsome as Sirius, or smart as Remus, but he was still their friend. They should worry a bit more for him, not be condescending because he wasn’t up to their standards. If they had worried a bit more for him, he wouldn’t… he wouldn’t be where he was.

He decided to wait inside the Leaky Cauldron to see if he could see someone that could help him with his task. He did notice that Sirius never answered his question about James, that meant the man wasn’t going to tell anybody, not even him, about the Potters’ whereabouts.

  
  


* * *

  
  


At midnight sharp, James and Sirius began drawing the transportation circle according to how Sirius learned it from the goblins. Instead of salt, what was traditionally used to draw ritual circles, they had to use crushed Iced Rock in the North Point to draw the runes, in the South Point they used Salamander’s crushed bones, in the East Point they drew the runes with the viscous mix of several herbs and a special ink and finally the West Point was drawn using the ashes of cherry wood.

Other runes between the Points were drawn with their own blood acting as key of who could enter the circle and anchor of the ambient magic that the circle had to absorb during Lughnasadh. After they were done with the circle and made sure all the runes were perfectly drawn with the correct material then they started chanting to activate it. As soon as they finished the last chant, the circle glowed and then dimmed but they knew that all the had to do now was wait for Mabon to draw the other runes.

“All this reminded me of the rituals in the Black House.” Said Sirius accommodating himself in the couch after drinking a Blood-Replenisher. It was almost three in the morning but due to the Magical high neither him nor James would be able to sleep. That was the effect of doing a Wiccan Ritual, their Magic would always be on a state of fullness the whole day and would slowly go back to normal the following days.

“It was my first time using blood,” commented James bringing a couple of Butterbeers. “We used to only burn offerings, never blood.” He passed one to Sirius and sat himself in one of the armchairs.

“The old hag made us bleed while making our chants, she believed it would make more magic enter our bodies like that. I called bullshit every time we had to cut our palms and as punishment I was left with my wounds open, no spell or potion to cure them.” Sirius wryly chuckled. It was worth it seeing his Mother yell in anger, he always hoped she would die from rage one day. Alas, the wish was too good and the gods too cruel.

“I wonder how she is coping in that house alone.” James muttered.

Sirius kept silent. Since Regulus died, his Mother was truly alone in that creepy house. His Father had died a couple of months before and Sirius knew it was all that hag’s doing to make Regulus the Lord and control the Family through him. Her plans went down the drain when his Grandfather Arcturus Black took the mantle as Lord Black a day after his son, Orion Black, died. The funeral was prepared by his Grandfather Arcturus and Sirius had to attend it due to his Grandfather Summoning all the Blacks.

You didn’t simply ignore a Black Summoning. If you didn’t appear at the hour marked in the sent invitation, you would be dragged by any means towards the venue. So, Sirius reluctantly showed himself to his Father’s funeral. He hadn’t seen so many Blacks since his grandmother’s funeral, there were even cousins, uncles and aunts he hadn’t seen since he was a kid; he thought them all dead. Even great-aunt Cassiopeia Black showed up; granted, she slept half the service and the other half everybody was worried she would die then and there. He swore there were whispers about preparing another coffin just for her.

The woman was ancient with her 117 years but Sirius only had respect for the woman. She liked her even more than his own Mother.

The service ended peacefully; just three of his uncles were cursed and one of his aunts had lost her hair due to another aunt’s grudge. He was mostly left alone in the corner where he hid himself next to great-aunt Cassiopeia (he had trouble keeping his laugh hearing her snore), and was ready to leave after biding her farewell ignoring how she always confused him to some Polaris when his Grandfather asked everybody to stay as he had to make an announcement.

The so-called announcement was that Sirius was made his Heir. Sirius just stood there stunned though he enjoyed seeing his Mother raving like a lunatic saying she had already disowned him, that Regulus was Heir Black, that Grandfather had no right to meddle in that affair. Everybody gasped when she said that to Lord Black himself and just waited for the show and what a show it was. Sirius would never regret attending that funeral -disregarding the fact that he had no other option.

The tongue lashing his Mother received from his Grandfather was epic.

“ _And I ask you back, with what right do you question my, Lord Black’s, words? You, a mere widow married into the main branch. The moment your Husband, my son, died, all your power as Lady Black was revoked since I never blessed this union. That said, your title as Lady Black was an empty one and you couldn’t possibly disown anybody in this Family. You could have dramatically blown your son’s face from the Tapestry but our Magic still recognized him as this Family’s Heir. I am just reminding everybody that we still have an Heir and upon my death Sirius Orion Black will be Lord Black. Let me not hear anything else said about this matter. I kept my mouth shut about your doing in my son’s death so you can retain some face in the Pureblood’s circle but I say this in front of the whole Family, I won’t doubt airing all your dirty secrets if I hear Sirius has come to harm and you are involved in it.”_

Sirius had never felt so touched. And even if he didn’t like his Grandfather, he was grateful for the man’s support. He wasn’t grateful for the attention he received after the announcement but he luckily made a fast enough escape before all those hypocrite Blacks decided it was convenient to sweet talk him to get some benefits for their own families. However, before he could step out of the Black’s Ancestral Home, he was dragged by his own brother to a hidden alcove.

He wouldn’t have complained if it was a woman, but his own brother…

Their conversation was tense and stilted, nothing important was said and neither were looking at the other’s face. Sirius could hear resentment in his brother’s voice and supposed it was because he was still Heir but when he chanced a glance at Regulus, Sirius noticed there was sadness in his brother’s eyes. He supposed Father’s dead was harder for Regulus so Sirius did the only thing he could do as a brother, he hugged him.

The next minutes were awkward for Sirius having an armful of crying brother but he stayed silent through it all, patting Regulus’ back. Their brotherly moment was over when Regulus’ mind caught up with his actions and ran away leaving a bewildered Sirius who just shrugged and left the place.

In hindsight, Sirius was grateful he had done that to show he still cared about Regulus but regretful that he didn’t press for the reason why he was crying so bitterly when months later news about his death reached his ears. The funeral this time was done more privately with only a picture of him since they hadn’t found a body, all they had were the words of the crazy elf Kreacher who cried and cried and hit himself while telling his Grandfather ‘Master Regulus is being dead’. Kreacher didn’t say more than that and until now, his brother’s death was a mystery.

Sirius suspected it was Voldemort’s doing. Only he would be crazy enough and have the guts to kill a member of the main branch of the Black House.

That was just another reason to stop the madman, to make him pay for all the suffering he had inflicted in the British Community and to let him know that nobody messes with a Black. Because no matter how dysfunctional the family was, at the end, each and every Black took pride in their last name and supported each other when it was needed. There were a couple of black sheep -forgive him the pun- here and there but those who truly knew what being a Black meant, were the first to take revenge on behalf of other Blacks.

Sirius was sure that in the next few months, Blacks would take action when they heard even a gossip on how Regulus died.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plans are moving forward.   
> Neither side has time to lose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, how are you? All good? You still hanging in there? 
> 
> I don't have much to say, it's 1am of Wednesday. I wanted to post the chapter early bc I have to do homework and I would most likely forget about posting the chapter during the day. So, I'm off to sleep and I leave you with this!
> 
> Stay safe, my dears! And stay beautiful, too!

* * *

The following days were hectic for James. Between being a Father and learning Japanese, he had his days full.

In the morning, he would wake up, do his morning ablutions, check if his daughters were awake and whoever was would be transported to the playpen and placed on the mattresses there to let them to either totally wake up or get a couple of minutes more; normally all three of them would be awake by the time he checked so all three would be transferred to the playpen. Then, it was time to make breakfast. Because he wasn’t that much of a cook, he would eat whatever he made for the girls.

After that, it was a brief play time for the triplets while he does the dishes and goes to prepare their baths. That was a chore and a half in itself since not all liked the same soap or shampoo. One by one, he would pick them up for their designated baths. As the less fussy, Dahlia always went first with her green apple soap and flowery shampoo, a good rub with the towel, a diaper, comfortable clothes and she was safely left with her bottle in the colorful Playroom watching the magical bubbles, the moving animals in the tapestry, the big soft balls, a padded slide, plushies and many toys.

Then it was the turn of the always energetic Violet who makes a mess of the bathroom. She also liked the flowery shampoo but preferred the subtle smell of oats in the soap. Even with all the water splashing here and there, it was easy to bath Violet, a rub with the towel, a bit of chasing, another diaper, more comfortable clothes and she was also left in the Playroom with her waiting sister.

Finally, it was time for the hardest time of the day, bathing Primrose. She always hid herself when she knew it was bath time so to make it less stressful for her and her bit of trauma since the time he dropped her in the bathtub, he began playing hide-and-seek with her. Her hiding places were always the same, behind the couch, under the table or inside the upturned toy box. Though it seemed this time she had gotten cleverer and chose another hiding place. He still called for her and was able to find her by her giggles under a box that used to contained a seesaw which was also placed in the Playroom.

“Caught you!” Her laugh resounded in the house when she ran to escape but he really needed to bath her to then do the laundry. Those little monsters used at least three different pieces of clothes every day. “Who’s a good girl?” He said with a goofy voice and blowing raspberries on her tummy. “Rosy is a good girl.” She kept laughing. “Ugh, Rosy is a smelly girl too!”

“NO!” She shrieked. She always said the same when she knew her Dad was being mean with her.

“Yes! Rosy hasn’t taken a bath that’s why she’s a smelly girl.”

As soon as they arrived to the bathroom, she began to fuss and try to escape, so her bath always started with a sponge bath to get her used to being wet. The water level in her bath was lower than her sisters’ too. But for all she fussed and had to be chased to take a bath, she liked being clean and more so when she ended up smelling like strawberries from head to top. The same process of toweling her and putting some clothes was repeated and was left with her other sisters in the Playroom. They would distract themselves for a while until it was snack time.

James hurried with the laundry and then preparing the fruits that would serve as snack. He quickly made his way up to find the girls running around chasing bubbles, laughing, falling, chasing again, then fall again until they just huffed and sat down to rest. That was when they would notice him and the snacks placed on a small table near the door. In between the snacks, they would always rope him to play whatever game came to Violet’s mind; he always had a bit of a hard time trying to understand what they wanted from him but at the end they would always enjoy themselves.

Near noon, James walked his daughters back down to the Playpen so he could keep an eye on them while making lunch. He kept an eagle eye on their backs while they slowly but surely learnt how to climb down the stairs. It was just recently that he decided to let them learn but never allowed them to do it without him supervising. The first times they were clumsy and didn’t know what to do; Violet even began crying due to frustration yet now they would carefully slip one foot, then the other, sliding down on their tummies while keeping a nice grab on the stair above to go down.

He proudly clapped and kissed them like a silly father making them giggle when he saw them climb down successfully for the first time. As prize for their hard work he made them their favorite corn soup. After wolfing down their lunch, they dazedly played with their toys until they dropped down for a nap. James just covered them with their blankets while he took out the laundry, folded it, put it back in the girls’ wardrobe, cleaned and organized the Playroom, and any other room that needed to be cleaned to finally sit down on the couch.

He sighed and glanced at the clock showing the time. It was the middle of the afternoon and Padfoot hadn’t arrived yet. They were going to complete the portal that day so they needed to prepare the ingredients that they had been steadily collecting for almost two months. He had cheated with the girls’ soup and sneaked a drop of Sleeping Potion so they would sleep more until Sirius and him were done with all the stuff. Sirius was running late and James didn’t want to think the worst so he just stood up and went to begin preparing the ingredients.

As time went on, the time to begin with the portal came yet there were no signs of Sirius. James had already thought to do it without him suppressing his desire to send his best friend a message in case he was busy and focused. He walked to the study where the half-done portal was after taking a peek at the still sleeping girls but stopped when he heard a crack of Apparition. He agilely moved to the door, his wand ready and looked through the window just to make sure it was Sirius and not any other person.

He knew Sirius would never Apparate outside the house in case he was followed, he only did it inside the Wards, that’s why it was weird for James to hear that crack yet the Stag Marauder calmed down when he spotted his best friend making a mad dash towards the house. The door was almost thrown open and closed just as hard. Sirius barely noticed someone moving on his left when he was already being dragged to the study.

“You’re late.” James accused, closing the door and getting the ingredients he had previously prepared.

“I know,” Sirius breathed while throwing his robe to the side, leaving only his slacks and shirt on for comfort. “Damn old Arcturus suddenly called me to visit him.”

James started to draw the first circle using the mixture of a 5-tailed fox’s blood, cherry wood ash and water from a shrine while Sirius took the eight objects that represented the eight elements in Japan; some were not native in Japan but they were illegal nonetheless, like the Thunderbird tears for the Thunder element, the scales from Merpeople for the Water element, the skin of a Lethifold for the Shadow element and blood from a Fire Dwelling Salamander for the Fire Element.

For the Japanese ingredients, there was the hair of Kijimura spirits for Wood, blood from a Nobusuma for Wind, the feathers of a luminescent bird called Aosaginohi for the Light element and finally for the Stone element, Sirius almost emptied his vaults just for a stone like this, a Sessho-seki. The reason why they were so expensive was because they were almost sacred stones. They were exorcised by a famous monk back in the 1600’s when the rocks contained an evil fox spirit who had caused chaos around Asia.

“How is old Arcturus?” James asked to relieve some boredom while drawing the second inner circle using some Japanese script.

Having already put the eight element ingredients around the middle circle, Sirius now proceeded to create the small runes around them, “Dying.” The dog Animagus succinctly responded.

James paused, glanced at Sirius who was working as if nothing and dared to ask, “Are you ok?”

Sirius reply didn’t come in the next couple of minutes and James didn’t press for one. The bespectacled man was aware that there was no love between him and the Black Family so it wouldn’t be surprising if he callously said that he did not care. James was almost done with the Japanese script for the inner circle when Sirius replied quietly.

“He wants me to take care of the Black Family.”

“You want to?”

When both were done with the runes and script, Magic accumulated in the portal giving the both of them a high. They quietly enjoyed the pure energy coursing through their bodies while it lasted until it settled making the portal hum and glow to then lay there quietly. On Samhain the last Rune would be added in the center of the portal, three big comma like symbols, and then they would be transported to their new life. But first, they needed to talk about the Black Family.

“The old hag died last month.”

Sirius said as soon as they made their way to the kitchen to begin preparing dinner. Of course, they first washed away any residue from the ingredients they used. It would be bad if the girls had a reaction to them. What they didn’t know was that Elemental Magic was more generic than normal Magic, as such, when they were done with the inner part of the portal, Elemental Magic flooded the whole house and its inhabitants not only the ones directly involved in the creation. So, part of that Elemental Magic seeped into the bodies of the girls who were still sleeping. Luckily, it was harmless.

“Old Arcturus didn’t tell me because he knew what kind of relationship I had with that woman. I’m glad he didn’t.” Sirius continued while whipping up some food for James and him while James took care of the girls’ food.

“So, he called you to tell you that as soon as he dies, all the Black Family matters will fall upon you?”

“More or less. He knows I never cared about this Heir bullshit-” a slap rang across the kitchen, both men simultaneously turned to look out the kitchen and sighed in relief noticing the girls were stirring to wake up but not completely awake. “Right, sorry about that. So, old Arcturus asked me what I was going to do and I… sorry, James, I told him about our plan to leave the country.”

“Oh, it’s ok, I think. Arcturus Black may be many things but he was never a snitch… or that is what Dad always used to say. Then, what did he say about it?”

Sirius laughed all of a sudden, “The old goat just sighed but then cracked a smile saying ‘ _I think it’s time the Black Family expands to other countries’._ Bloody greedy Blacks. At the end, he just asked me to take care of the old members of the Family. Great-Aunt Cassiopeia has to rely on an elf to take care of her. That old bas… trash of Cygnus is getting more problematic the older he gets. Aunt Lucretia finally remembered she had family and sent a letter to say she was in Greece. And all the other distant Blacks are trying to get a piece of the Black fortune as soon as Arcturus kicks the bucket.”

“Hard times will come for poor Sirius Black and his geriatric family.” James joked earning a punch in the arm.

“At least they know how to behave. The younger generation…” They both thought of the same person: Bellatrix Lestrange. The woman was half mad and half psycho. It didn’t help that she followed another psycho. Narcissa was still ok, haughty little bitch she was but she could be reasoned with. Unfortunately, she was married to one Lucius Malfoy. With no doubt whatsoever, the best Black was Andromeda, though she became really cold and distant.

A muffled cry got their attention and seeing as the girls were waking up, they decided to leave the conversation for later and focus on dinner.

  
  


* * *

  
  


The immense Hall of Malfoy Manor was full of Death Eaters, all neatly arranged in front of a throne that housed the Dark Lord Voldemort. The place was in complete silence not because they wanted to but because their Lord was in a very bad mood. The roiling and aggressive Magic said it all, it was tense and ready to attack whoever breathed just a little bit louder. Not even the always crazy and belligerent Bellatrix Lestrange dared to make a peep.

The awkward and tense atmosphere lasted for a couple of minutes more until the doors to the Hall opened loudly in the silent room and a cowardly Peter Pettigrew stepped in. The rat Animagus shivered and shrank his neck when he noticed the kind of entrance he made thinking that maybe he should just get out. But his plan was thrown out the window when there was a loud shout in the room.

“Wormtail!” Said man startled and scurried to the front.

“M-my Lord.” He stammered and shakily knelt. The others sneered at his attitude and some even gloated in his misfortune of incurring their Lord’s wrath.

“Crucio!” No other words and the wails of Peter’s pitiful voice echoed around the Hall. Bellatrix was the first to cackle madly at the scene followed by the others who found delight seeing people get tortured. Others like Lucius and Severus looked at the convulsing man with dispassionate gazes, though the first had a hint of apprehension. “You dare to arrive late to the meeting, Wormtail?” Lord Voldemort asked with his silky voice cutting off the spell.

“Ma-ma-m L-lorr…” The man slurred. He made an effort to get out the words he needed to say if not, he would be tortured more. “P-potters… Found the Potters.” The Hall fell silent again with those words, all the Death Eaters looked at their Lord eagerly, waiting for his orders. Meanwhile, Severus pursed his lips at the news.

Lord Voldemort ferally smiled hearing that. “Well done, Wormtail.” Peter didn’t even have time to be smug for his contribution when he felt the displeased gazes of the other Death Eaters, specially Bellatrix’s. “Tell us more about your successful endeavor.”

“Y-yes, my Lord.” His body still twitching, he made his best to sound unaffected though he failed miserable. “S-sirius asked me to be the Secret K-keeper for the F-fidelius Cha-arm around t-the P-p-potters’ house. He me-entioned a-about b-being de-deco-oy.”

“Thanks for your very helpful report, Wormtail.” Lord Voldemort drawled in pure sarcasm eliciting another bout of laughs around the Hall. “Legilimens!”

_Peter entered a very muggle pub in a town that his mind provided as being Godric Hollow. The place was a bit desolate considering it was a Tuesday and the man behind the bar merely glanced at Peter before ignoring him. Peter felt a surge of embarrassment but made his way to the corner where a very handsome young man sat with a huge pint of beer. Sirius Black looked very inconspicuous in that corner and blended rather nicely compared to Peter._

“ _Thanks for coming, and sorry for calling you all of a sudden.” Black said as soon as Peter sat down signaling the bartender to prepare another drink. “It must be rather dangerous for you to come out so I will be very brief.” Rage and shame washed Peter’s mind at that sentence and Lord Voldemort quite agreed with Black, Pettigrew was a really cowardly and useless man._

“ _Is something the matter, Sirius?” Peter asked in a quiet voice, looking around the place as if afraid something would come out to attack him. Lord Voldemort commended the cautiousness but thought Pettigrew a fool to think Black would do something in front of Muggles._

“ _We thought, with James, that it would be better if you were the Secret Keeper for the Fidelius Charm hiding them.” Peter inwardly felt ecstatic at the news. He would finally be able to complete his mission. “The war is getting worse, there is no one we can trust. Everybody will think I am the Secret Keeper and will go after me; meanwhile, you will be well ensconced in your house so nothing will happen to James and his family. What do you say?” Black hurriedly explained._

“ _Of course, Sirius, as long as I can help. When are we changing the Secret Keeper?” Maybe Pettigrew was too enthusiastic because Black paused for a moment and intently stared. Lord Voldemort inwardly called Pettigrew a fool and all names under the sun for being too stupid._

_Luckily, Black didn’t pursue the matter and said, “On Samhain, Peter. Come back at this place early in the morning, at six. Now go.”_

“ _Yes, see you then!” Peter didn’t noticed but Lord Voldemort did, since he was a third party in the memory, that when Pettigrew stood up to leave another man in the farthest corner also stood up but contrary to Pettigrew who headed to the door, this other man made his way towards Black. They spoke in hushed whispers but Lord Voldemort was able to hear._

“ _What did he say?” the other man asked._

“ _Said yes,” Black saw something in the other man’s face for he said. “Don’t worry James, it’s just for one day, after that, it won’t matter if he knows.”_

With the memory done, Lord Voldemort painfully extricated himself from Peter’s mind. The rat Animagus laid there on the floor twitching and heavily breathing, meanwhile Lord Voldemort looked at him with something akin to pity. Here the cowardly man was, thinking he was one of them but neither Potter nor Black trusted the man at all. Lord Voldemort knew the excuse to being a decoy was a lie and those two were going to do something on Samhain that they didn’t want anybody to know.

If Lord Voldemort was the same sane, smart and quick-witted person from long ago, he would have thought carefully about what he saw and what plan Potter and Black were brewing yet he was not, so he threw all those clues to the back of his mind and laughed, declaring, “We attack on Samhain.” The cheers from the people below him filled the Hall and after preparing all the plans when Lord Voldemort was done with the threatening, everybody started leaving.

“Is there something you want, Severus?” The snake look-alike man softly asked to the young man who still lingered in the room.

“My Lord.” Severus called out while kneeling but he couldn’t voice his request, his wish. He knew it wouldn’t be granted so he kept silent yet not moving.

“A Mudblood, Severus?” The sweet tone sent shivers down Severus’ spine. The kneazle was out of the bag so to him, it was now or never.

“Please, my Lord! I will do anything for you, just… just leave the woman alive.” Severus almost threw himself to the ground to beg but could stop at the last minute knowing Lord Voldemort wouldn’t like those kind of actions. Seconds ticked by becoming minutes and when no answer came, Severus resigned and was about to apologize for the request and excuse himself when he heard.

“Very well.” Severus head whipped up to look at his Lord with an incredulous face which Voldemort ignored. “Let it not be said that Lord Voldemort doesn’t reward his followers. I hope you don’t disappoint me in the future, Severus.” And with those words, the Dark Lord glided out of the room not before hearing a heartfelt ‘Thank you, my Lord’.

  
  


* * *

  
  


The Magic receded leaving both Peter and Sirius a bit tired. For safety reasons, they decided to do the transfer inside the Potter cottage. For a moment, Sirius didn’t know where he was, he could see the living room, the photos hanging on the wall yet had no idea where this place was and he felt uncomfortable with it. Until Peter told him the address of the place, he was aware he was in the Potter Cottage where James lived with his daughters.

For more safety reasons, the girls were not allowed to come down the whole morning Peter was forced to stay there; after all, Peter couldn’t deny the invitation to spend a couple of hours with his old friends to reminisce about the past. Well, he reminisced with James since Sirius said he had to go take a shower and all that stuff. Peter knew the man was vain, yet he didn’t know it extended to this, spending hours in the bath. James just laughed saying maybe he fell asleep in the tub. Aurors were being pulled stretched at this moment so Sirius had to go on raids even at night.

Peter thought that made sense and forgot about the matter, having the decency to let the man rest. He did refuse James’ invitation for lunch and luckily the stag Animagus didn’t insist so, Peter quickly made his way out and towards Malfoy Manor where he knew Lord Voldemort was living at.

James’ smile disappeared as soon as Peter Disapparated and quietly made his way upstairs and to the Playroom where he could hear the laughs from his girls and barks from a dog. His tensed heart relaxed a bit and watched with a fond gaze how the dog was being sieged by mischievous girls who jumped on the dog’s back and pulled its ears and clumps of hair. James would have loved to do the same with his daughters but a stag was too big and he was afraid he would hurt them with his antlers.

The dog pleaded at James the moment he noticed the man standing by the door. James laughed and called out, “Ok, girls, time to go down and play with the other toys while Daddy makes food. Let’s leave Uncle Paddy alone unless you want him to go bald.”

“Yes, Daddy!” The girls chorused then giggled running out of the room to slowly go down the stairs.

They could climb down while tightly gripping the low handrail James installed on the wall so they could graduate from sliding down on their tummies. The first times, they would slip and almost fall down if it wasn’t for James keeping an eye on them, but now, they were fine as long as they didn’t let go of the handrail. They even, very stubbornly, chased James away so they could do it alone. He was very proud but at the same time sad seeing them grow up so fast. Of course, he got away with a mild sticking charm he cast on the handrail so they would never let go until they made it to the bottom of the stairs so he left them alone to their adventures.

“Women will no longer love me if your daughters make me a baldie.” Sirius sighed while looking with pity at the clumps of hair scattered on the floor.

“They will love Uncle Paddy even if you end up ugly and bald, Sirius.” James said with mirth. As soon as the girls started recognizing Sirius, they would clamor around him trying to get his attention. It made James feel a bit lonely but he was happy nonetheless. Both cast some cleaning charms around the room to organize all the toys and make the hair disappear. Just when they were done with the room, they heard the yelling and disaster downstairs making them wince.

“Yeah, well, if I end up single and as old as Great-Aunt Cassiopeia, I will have them to take care of me.” A very roguish smile appeared on Sirius’ face earning a shove from James. They ignored the disaster in the living room while the girls played with their toys and headed for the kitchen. As always, Sirius took care of the food for the adults while James cooked something for the girls.

While cutting some carrot, James said, “Sirius, I think Peter…” He didn’t dare to continue. It wasn’t that he had proof but the other Marauder was acting very strange.

“I know.” Was all Sirius said while frying some steak. The cutting paused.

“Do you think-“

“Death Eaters attack mostly at night to take advantage of the cover the darkness provides so they can’t be recognized by Aurors during raids. If we are attacked, it would be at night.” James hummed at Sirius’ response. “We will activate the portal as soon as the residue Magic from the Secret Keeper transfer disappears. So have faith, James.” The bespectacled Marauder nodded and steel determination filled his heart.

In the afternoon, James packed all the stuff in the house. The pictures, the toys, the clothes, the bed sheets, the bathroom necessities, even some canned food in a very old but very big steamer trunk with seven compartments. There was another trunk, this one smaller, that contained all the books in the house. James did want his girls to be smart and intelligent like their mother. Other things like furniture would be bought in Japan so those were left in the house. When they were done with their packing, it was already time to begin the transportation so James and Sirius shrunk the trunks and headed to the portal circle.

As it was a one-time use portal which would disappear after its activation, they took great care not to smudge or erase any rune or script. James put Dahlia on a carrier strapped to his back while Sirius carried Violet and Primrose on back and front carriers. As the one who knew exactly the place they were going, James had to put the final rune and say the short chanting so they decided he would carry just one girl.

As soon as they were ready, James took out a simple bottle of Japanese ink and brush to draw the comma like runes, yet before he could start the chanting, they felt the Wards trembling and falling down. Sirius and James looked at each other and they knew that they had no time. James saw the decisiveness in Sirius eyes but before the dog Marauder could say anything, a hand clamped down on his arm and James started to chant. They both knew they were making a gamble.

The front door was blown away startling the girls and sending them to wails successfully giving away their position but even then James didn’t stop his chant. Sweat was sliding down his forehead due to the pressure and felt the Magic rapidly surging with each word he pronounced. Sirius’ face was grim and had his Wand ready in case they couldn’t make it on time. The footsteps outside the door felt like hammers on their hearts yet both heaved a sigh of relief when James was done chanting.

Magic peaked and was ready to transport them when the door to the study was also blown away. The Marauders ducked and protected the girls from any stray splinter. It was a mere second. The second Lord Voldemort took notice of what was happening inside the study, he didn’t doubt to send the first spell on his mind, a nonverbal Bombarda. Unfortunately, the portal was already activated and created a screen that reflected the spell with a tenfold more power blowing Lord Voldemort’s body to smithereens.

Yet the portal was not left untouched by the spell. Lord Voldemort was smart enough to aim it to the ground dislodging one of the materials used in the portal. In the Japanese house, a goblin from the Japanese branch of Gringotts stood in front of the portal created in the living room. The portal flashed and the creature waited for Mr. Potter and family to arrive yet when the light subsided nobody was standing or laying inside the circle. The goblin stood there stunned by the occurrence and waited for a couple of minutes in case it was falsely activated, but time passed and nothing else happened.

Seeing that something was wrong, the goblin ran back to Gringotts to relay the matter to his superior. The Head goblin contacted the branch in Britain and was informed that the portal on that side was activated so they should have already be there in Japan (as it was goblin Magic they used, they were aware it was activated). Relaying the information that nobody was present on the other side, the goblins did a subtle investigation and concluded that the interference of a spell made the portal unstable. As such, there were two possibilities regarding the outcome of using the portal, either the Potters were destroyed in a backlash of Magic or they were sent to another place.

Notices were sent to the immediate family of each man. Or more like a notice was sent to Lord Black about the disappearance of his Heir.

Meanwhile, the disappearance of the Potters plus one Sirius Black created furor in the British Wizarding Community but no more than the news that Lord Voldemort’s garments were found in the Potter Cottage declaring him dead to the delight of the masses. The Death Eaters were like headless chickens and many were captured during raids, including one Peter Pettigrew, who was able to escape from Azkaban not even one month after his capture.

One Severus Snape found himself devastated when he roamed the house and found a grave on the backyard of the Cottage with the name of Lily Potter engraved on it. He found out she had died more than one year before Lord Voldemort attacked and his hatred towards James, Sirius and even the innocent children he dubbed ‘Potter spawns’ grew to new heights.

Albus Dumbledore, believer of the prophecy found himself flabbergasted at the turn of events. He knew that Lord Voldemort was not completely dead, yet there was no Savior child that fulfilled the requirements for the prophecy, so he was left with no other choice but to make Neville Longbottom as the Prophecy Child, of course, nobody knew that until Neville turned eleven and entered Hogwarts.

In the excitement of war coming to its end, everybody eventually forgot about the mysterious disappearance of the Potters. Everybody but one person, Remus Lupin, who did his own investigation and ended up talking with the goblins at Gringotts and knew the truth behind his friends disappearance. Even so, there was nothing he could do but hold hope that his friends were fine, wherever they were.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The night the Kyuubi attacked Konoha, a mysterious family of five appeared out of nowhere. 
> 
> The Sandaime is a happy old man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm halfway done painting my room, I will show you guys when it's done! 
> 
> To my dear reader who was worried about this being tragedy after tragedy, the beginning is kind of light, so there is a soft blanket given before the harsh storm, lol. 
> 
> After a month of being in my house, I grew used to it that maybe going out again will make my antisocial skills rear their head. How are you faring? All's good?
> 
> Remember to stay safe, wash your hands, and use a mask! 
> 
> Hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

The night was quiet, not belying the fact that just a couple of hours before the Nine-Tailed Fox almost destroyed the Village Hidden in the Leaves, otherwise known as Konoha. The survivors helped the injured ones. The hospital was bursting and understaffed. Searches for any living shinobi were quietly taking place in the dark of the night, and many plots were brewing behind the curtains of serenity.

A group of three Chuunin Shinobis were patrolling the surrounding forest outside the great walls that protected the village as an effort to find any missing person who got blown away by the attacks of the Kyuubi. Honestly, their task was a bit depressing, even themselves didn’t know if their own families were alive or if their friends were ok; but they had to follow orders and try to do it to their very best without succumbing to the anxiety of the uncertainty.

It was during their patrolling that they witnessed a flash of light deep in the forest and a sudden spike of Chakra.

They glanced at each other and quickly made their way towards the light. Whatever they expected to see was not two men sprawled on the ground, rivulets of blood forming a pool under their bodies and three kids, all unconscious. After coming out of their stupor, one of them approached the two men to check if either was alive. To his surprise, both were still breathing although weakly.

“Oi! Shiki, come here!” The Shinobi that checked on the bodies called. “They are still alive, see if you can do something.”

The man named Shiki approached too and after a quick diagnosis, his face turned grim. “Both men present symptoms of being Chakra drained. I can heal their injuries but…” The Shinobi that was confirmed to be the Healer in their group trailed off and then began treating the one with the long hair who was the worst of the two. When he started treating the one with glasses, a hand suddenly clamped on his arm.

The bespectacled man gasped and looked at Shiki with unfocused eyes mumbling something between breaths. The three Shinobi got ready to attack seeing the man move, but noticing he had no strength to strike, they relaxed. Shiki leaned over the man to hear his words and barely made out a couple of them.

“Save… daughters… money…open… blood.” Shiki felt something on his palm and saw it was a box. Before he could ask more about what the man meant with his words, the man promptly fell unconscious. Shiki continued with his task of treating them without noticing that the man who spoke to him wasn’t fluent in his speech, as if the language was not his first.

“Let’s take them back to the Village.” Shiki said after finishing his treatment.

“You think it’s wise to do it?” One of the other two Shinobis asked doubtfully. They didn’t even know if they were enemy Shinobis or spies.

“The men are dying and the kids didn’t even stir when I checked on them. We can take care of them if they are enemies or not after they recover.” The other two stared a couple of seconds and then nodded, each carrying a man on their shoulder while Shiki carried the kids.

It was chaos in Konoha’s hospital so the two men and the three kids soon were lost in the sea of injured people that needed to be checked upon and placed in rooms according to the severity of the injuries. That day the ones who were busier were the previous Hokage, the Sandaime, Sarutobi Hiruzen, the newly appointed Jōnin Commander, Nara Shikaku and the Head of the Hospital of Konoha. They didn’t even returned to their homes for a week until all the hubbub of emergency disaster relief calmed down.

Only then, the two mysterious men and the three kids were mentioned again.

“So, you’re telling me, these people appeared in the forest after a spike of Chakra and looked as if they were attacked by the amount of blood the men sported and their Chakra being drained?” Asked the aged Hokage, the Sandaime, rubbing his temples. He had not slept on a bed for a week, his body was killing him and the paperwork will surely kill him. Now he had to deal with people who appeared out of nowhere and didn’t seem to be part of Konoha, or at least they had no relatives in the village if the investigations were done correctly.

Shiki, the member of the three-man patrol group that picked them up, looked a bit embarrassed at the situation. If put like that, the report sounded more like a tale but that was what happened. He had been taking care of them as part of volunteering in the hospital like most Medic-nin had been doing for the last couple of days due to being understaffed.

“Did the man mention something else?” The Sandaime sighed sitting in the middle of the large Hall were many other injured people were still residing and trying to subtly pay attention to what was happening there.

“Yes, Hokage-sama, this man,” Shiki responded while pointing at the body of the man who had short hair, “asked me to take care of his daughters,” then he motioned to another bed that housed three little girls. “Next, I think, he gave me money for the treatment giving me this and also said blood.” Finally, the Medic-nin gave the Hokage a box like thing.

Hiruzen quietly examined the box and noticed that it was filled with Chakra. He tried to open it by infusing some of his Chakra but the box only shook a bit as if wanting to open to then repel the Chakra he had used. The old man found the artifact curious so he passed the box to his new Jōnin Commander, Nara Shikaku, to inspect it too. Shikaku did the same as the Sandaime just with more finesse, discovering there were a set of Fūinjutsu inlaid in the box that prevented them from opening it unless the requirement was met.

“You said he mentioned blood when he gave you this?” Shikaku asked glancing at Shiki.

“Yes! After that he fainted, so I couldn’t ask more.”

“Hm.” Shikaku hummed and then he bit his thumb making blood drip from it to directly fall on the box. The box reacted once more but it still repelled the blood. Hiruzen and Shiki watched the procedure with curiosity, not making a sound to let Shikaku think. “Could it be…” The Jōnin Commander trailed off making his way to the bed where the short-haired man laid. Taking out a kunai, he made a small cut on the unconscious man’s finger and let some of his blood drop on the box.

This time, the reaction was bigger and what happened next left the people a bit dumbfounded, though not that surprised. Shinobis were capable of taking things out of Fūinjutsu seals that served as containers, yet shrinking things and making the owner’s blood the only key was a bit unconventional. At least, many hadn’t seen that method. So, when the box enlarged itself to become a wood trunk made them take a step back. It even fell heavily on the ground belying the previous light weight. After seconds of nothing else happening, no attack or ambush, Shikaku stepped forward to open the trunk.

The Sandaime’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets, Shiki’s jaw dropped really low, Shikaku was trembling where he stood and even the hidden ANBU, who were there to protect the Hokage, almost fell down. The trunk was filled to the brim with coins, shiny gold, silver and even some bronze coins; there were a few precious gems here and there but those were negligible to the sight of such a huge amount of gold. Only the Daimyo had this much gold, or maybe not even him.

Just, who were these people?

“Cough, well, since the man is paying for the treatment, we might as well give the best service,” said the Sandaime.

“That’s all well and good, Hokage-sama, but please say that while not holding a bunch of coins as if they were your Wife.” Shikaku commented making Hiruzen pause and reluctantly put the coins back. All the Medic-nin around, and the ANBU above, sweat-dropped seeing their Hokage act like some beggar seeing money for the first time.

“The country needs money and someone came offering theirs…” All the people who heard that looked away and pretended they didn’t know this shameless old man making plans with a patient’s money. Shikaku left the Hokage to his wild mumbling of what he would do with the money, even pointedly ignoring something about ‘have to buy the newest Icha Icha’.

The Jōnin Commander then turned to the couple of Medic-nin that had been in charge of running tests on all the patients, their unknown guests too, “Have you found the reason why neither men have woken up yet?” It had been a week already, being drained of Chakra might lead to a couple of days unconscious, plus their injuries were not that serious, so they should have been awake by now.

“Their bodies are fine, they seemed to respond well to the treatment of their superficial and internal injuries but when we were trying to infuse some of our Chakra to their systems to make them wake up… well, it’s better if you see it yourself.” One of the older Medic-nin explained moving towards the bed of the other man with longer hair. Green Chakra coated the medic’s hand and slowly moved it to the body in the basic motions to infuse Chakra but the moment it made contact with the long-haired man, it distorted and instantly dispersed.

That part of the Hall fell silent, even the Sandaime’s mumbling stopped. To confirm that what happened was real, the medic did the same thing but yet again, the Chakra in his hand distorted to then disperse as if it was being repelled. Actually, all the medic’s in the hospital tried to infuse Chakra but each and every one of them failed the endeavor. This made the whole staff curious and some were even eager to experiment as to the cause of such phenomenon; sadly, they first had to report the issue of their mysterious origins before taking any other action.

“Call Hyūga Hiashi,” Hiruzen gravely commanded. One of the ANBU quietly left the place to return a couple of minutes later. Some time afterward, the figure of a tall man with long hair, reaching his waist, and eyes with no pupils entered the Hall, walking directly to the corner where the Hokage and his group was.

“Hokage-sama,” The recently arrived man greeted.

“Use your Byakugan to look at his Chakra system.” The old man instructed motioning towards one of the beds containing the man with long hair.

The Head of the Hyūga Family, Hiashi, silently activated the Byakugan, making the veins around his eyes bulge and intently stared at the man lying on the bed. “This is strange.” He commented not a few seconds later. “There are residues of Chakra in him but there are no Chakra veins in his body, only a tiny spark that looks like Chakra but not quite.” He explained.

“What about this other man?” Hiruzen asked pointing to the bed next to it.

“It’s the same. Both bodies try to collect Chakra but for some reason they are unable to, thus leading to their bodies to barely survive.” By chance, Hiashi glanced at the bed where the girls were laying and his whole body jerked in surprise. “What a tremendous amount of Chakra!” His steps quickly took him to the side of the girls’ bed and intently stared. “There are no veins, their Chakra is flowing freely in them. Is this a Kekkei Genkai? They have even more Chakra than an Uzumaki.” With the Byakugan deactivated, Hiashi stared down at the three girls and then turned to the Sandaime. “Who are they?”

“That is what we are trying to discover. They suddenly appeared the night the Kyuubi attacked so we don’t know if they are enemies or not. Though I’m leaning to think they are simple civilians, rich but simple civilians…” Hiruzen wickedly chuckled, his eyes stopping at the trunk filled with golden coins.

“Cough,” All the people who knew what the old man was thinking decided to ignore him once again. “Did they bring something else with them that can provide us with their identity?” Asked Shikaku to the medical staff present.

“Ah, yes! They had two more boxes of those with them.” Replied one of the women present handing two more objects to Shikaku.

Before Shikaku could even examine them, Hiruzen snatched them from the Jōnin Commander’s hand and eagerly slashed one finger from the short-haired man. As before, the moment the blood touched the boxes, they became a bigger trunks. Yet when the Sandaime looked at what was in them, he immediately made way for Shikaku to do his job and went back to the trunk with the gold. Hiashi looked at the events developing in front of him with a strange expression on his face; so, as everyone else, he decided to ignore the Hokage who was now counting the coins.

Shikaku sighed while scratching the back of his head, “So troublesome.” Then he proceeded to look into the trunks. The smaller one contained books of all sizes that to his surprise he couldn’t read because they were written in a strange language. He beckoned to Hiashi to take a look with his Byakugan in case the books were encrypted while he moved to the other trunk. This one was full of clothes, most were for the girls’, with a smaller pile for the men. The fabric used looked similar to the one they used for their clothes, though of better quality and of a different design.

It was clear that these people were not from the Land of Fire, or any other big country here.

Shikaku saved his conclusions for when he was done searching the whole trunk, and then he noticed the numbers on the lock. He curiously analyzed the numbers but didn’t think they were used as a password since the trunk was opened with blood of the owner. Then he discovered that the number three was glowing compared to the others. His fingers gently skimmed the surface noticing the number 3 was sunken so he concluded they might be buttons. To confirm his theory, he pressed the 1 and the contents being displayed in the trunk changed.

Shikaku was a bit fascinated by the mechanism and changed from 3 to 1 and back again and again until he was sure that the contents never changed from the numbers, then he pressed 2 and the contents were different from the other two. He decided that this type of trunk was really amazing, it could hold more than it looked capable of, and there was no restriction as to the type of things you could store up.

So far, he had discovered that number 1 contained pictures and albums, most of them of the girls, from the very moment they were born to more recent ones. Shikaku sweat-dropped thinking that maybe the father was very obsessed with his daughters to have this many pictures of them. He accepted they were cute, maybe cuter than Inoichi’s daughter. Hm, maybe stop that train of thought or Inoichi could bash him for thinking there were girls prettier than his.

Number 2 contained many bottles ranging from shampoo, soap, body cream, etc. This compartment looked like the bathroom in his house with all the products his Wife used; towels, bed sheets and bathrobes were included too. Number 3 contained the clothes he had seen before. Number 4 was super packed with canned food. This gave him the idea that maybe these people were travelers or nomads, they had food to survive for a month perhaps so he started to discard the idea that they were enemies though he was still cautious.

Number 5 was the paradise for kids with countless toys in it. They were very different to the type of toys they had in Konoha but there were some standard ones like balls and curiously even some swords. It seemed the father didn’t care that he had daughters and was starting to get them familiar in the ninja ways. He started to think positively about this man. If he knew that James Potter, the man with short hair, used those swords together with Sirius Black, the man with long hair, to entertain his daughters and never let the girls play with them, then he wouldn’t think that highly of him.

Shikaku was about to change compartments when suddenly he heard Hiashi say, “Ah, hello.” Shikaku raised his head to find himself being stared by very green eyes, emerald green and for some reason he felt as if he was caught doing something bad when those eyes glanced at the trunk he was inspecting. He embarrassingly scratched the back of his head and with a timid wave, he said, “Uh, hi.”

The girl frowned as if she didn’t understand what he said but seconds later some sort of recognition glinted in her expression and she shyly waved back. A loud rumble went off in the once again silent Hall making some of the adults chuckle seeing the distressed face of the girl. One of the Medic-nin went to get some food for their newly awoken girls, while another one went to check on her and the other two who were waking up too.

As soon as the examinations were done, the medic relied the information he got. Apparently, their Chakra was able to keep their body going, same as the men, without having to intake food. Yet just in case, they were regularly injected with serum to provide with the vitamins and minerals they were missing from not eating. That’s why they looked as if they had just woken up from a nap with hungry bellies and not from a week-long coma. The Sandaime, Shikaku and Hiashi were surprised to know the function their Chakra had and were even more sure that it was a Kekkei Genkai.

While the three girls were eating, the adults examined each of them.

The one with green eyes and dark hair looked very proper while eating, taking care not to spill anything; the times she failed, she looked very grumpy as if she wasn’t allowed to make mistakes. The red-haired one with hazel eyes looked so cute trying to imitate the other but failing and pouting, the scene always melted the heart of all the witnesses. More than one nurse wanted to go and hug the girl for dear life. The Sandaime even took her spoon and began to feed her with such a doting expression that the others ignored this shameless old man again. The last one didn’t care one bit about her fork and spoon and grabbed her vegetables with her hands while drinking her soup from the bowl. She was such a different picture from the other two, but somewhat the adults couldn’t see her doing otherwise.

“I’ve never seen sisters look so different but similar at the same time.” Shikaku commented earning nods from everybody else. By now, they knew they were a set of triplets, they had the same unruly hair, their faces had the same shape and their smiles were even the same. Yet they were so different in terms of personality, hair-coloring and some facial features. It was very fascinating as even brothers with years apart in the clans looked almost the same as if they were copies.

“The dark-haired one looks to be the eldest. She has the mannerism of trying to be the example of the other two seeing as the red-haired one was trying to imitate her. The blonde-haired one is the youngest, her actions suggest that she can get away with anything she does just like a little sister.” Hiashi voiced his opinion. The Jōnin Commander agreed with this view. “Where are they going to be placed?”

The question halted everybody’s thoughts. With the girls awake, there must be someone who needed to take care of them. For the time being it was fine with leaving them in the hospital while waiting for either adult to wake up. The problem was, the Medics weren’t sure if they would ever wake up seeing how their bodies reacted to their Chakra. Since they had the money, the Medics could provide them with continual treatment and observation until they woke up, though the girls wouldn’t be able to stay at the hospital. If that was the case, they would need to be handed to others to take care of them.

“So troublesome,” Shikaku muttered. “As of now, let’s consider them orphans, so according to Konoha law, and seeing they most likely possess a Kekkei Genkai, it would be better if a clan raises them.”

The next problem was, which clan? Each girl possessed characteristics of different clans. The eldest one looked like an Uchiha bar the green eyes. The middle one looked like an Uzumaki with the red hair, though she might also pass as an Akimichi, considering Chōza’s hair. The youngest one had features like a Yamanaka but acted like an Inuzuka through and through. The thing is, they couldn’t be separated. The girls might look cheerful and taking everything in stride but they never separated from the other belying the fact that they were scared of the new environment and the people around them.

“Place them in the orphanage.” Said the Sandaime cutting off their thoughts.

“Hokage-sama?” Shikaku was mildly surprised hearing Hiruzen’s words. Just a few minutes before he was dotingly feeding one of the girls but now… A thought crossed Shikaku’s mind and then stopped any other words he might have said.

The Sandaime inwardly nodded at his new Jōnin Commander. He knew the Naras were very smart and didn’t need much words to understand a situation, that’s why he was pleased he didn’t need to explain any more. Even if that let the others pondering about his reasons; though it was quite simple. If the girls were placed in a clan, many would start paying attention to them including the enemy spies (because he was not naïve enough to think there were not infiltrated enemies in the village, he also had his own spies in the other villages), but most of all, he didn’t want to get the attention of the Elders.

So placing the girls in the orphanage would make them look like any other orphan who had lost their parents to the Kyuubi, nobody would look at them twice. Well, they would look twice, they were really cute girls, specially this red-haired one. Sigh, why didn’t he have a daughter as cute as this one? Instead he was stuck with a smelly boy. The unfairness of life. Sigh. He was even stuck with that Minato’s smelly boy too. Sigh, oh cruel fate.

Right, no time to think about his misfortune. If the men were not going to wake up soon, then he might as well ask the girls for some clues. “What are your names?” Hiruzen amiably asked when the girls were done eating and were sipping on their juice. They all looked at him with confused eyes. “Your names.” The man even began gesturing but the girls still didn’t understand. The Sandaime looked disheartened at his failed attempts and looked at the other two men with him for help. Hiashi immediately looked away.

“Uh, let me.” Said Shikaku scratching the back of his head. “Shikaku.” He said pointing at himself. “Hiruzen.” Then he pointed at the Hokage. “Hiashi.” He pointed at the Hyūga Head and finally at each girl. He did two more rounds of the same for the eldest to understand what Shikaku was asking.

“ _Dahla,”_ she said trying her best to pronounce her ow name, Dahlia. Then she pointed at the red-haired girl exclaiming: “ _Roshy!_ ”, and finally to her little sister, “ _Vailet!_ ”

The men stared dumbfounded. Those were their names? Why haven’t they heard those names before? Did any country here use them? Dahlia didn’t notice the confusion in the adults and went on a rampage on name calling, saying hers and her sisters’ names over and over, then seeing as her Daddy was near them, she loudly called out while pointing at him. “ _Jemsh Pota!”_

The adults looked even more confused and this time Dahlia noticed they weren’t understanding what she was saying. She suddenly remembered how her Daddy explained their names using that stick and thought she could also do the same. So, she used the new trick she secretly learned while her Daddy was asleep and with a focused expression, she extended her hand. The others were clueless as to what she was doing until a nurse gasped and a stick flew towards the girl. The ANBU in the Hall almost came out from their hiding places to take care of the threat but noticing it was just a stick, they decided to wait not thinking a toddler would hurt an adult Shinobi.

Stick in hand, Dahlia frowned, swishing it this and that way but to no avail. She noticed the stick was different from her Daddy’s and promptly gave it to Primrose who was babbling away at their little sister who looked ready to jump down the bed and roam the place. Not knowing what to do with the stick, Primrose gave it to her little sister who happily swished it and many vases in the Hall exploded. The adults all got into attack position, the ANBU quickly circling the Hokage.

“Wait!” Shikaku called out. The Hall stilled while Violet happily swished the stick making the blanket under them change color. “May I look at it?” He gently asked. Violet didn’t even think about it, handing the stick to him and looked at him expectantly thinking he would do the tricks their Daddy did. Unfortunately, the moment Shikaku grabbed the stick nothing happened, not even after swishing it. “The stick can conduct Chakra but it seems it shows a strong resistance to mine.” He pondered for a couple of seconds more. “It didn’t react to the eldest, nor the middle daughter but to the youngest. It seems the stick needs some type of requirements for it to work.”

In the middle of his pondering, Dahlia finally got hold of her Daddy’s wand which emitted a puff of smoke when she held it. Then she called out her name again. “ _Dahla._ ” This time from the tip of the stick a small red flower appeared. Next she said, “ _Roshy,_ ” with a yellow flower appearing above Primrose. Finally, a purple flower appeared above her little sister when she said, “ _Vailet._ ”

Three differently colored flowers, if the adults didn’t figure out they were called after flowers then they had been living in vain. They also inwardly praised the girl for being smart enough to think about that to explain their names, they thought that was how their Dad had taught them yet she was able to remember. But something looked weird while looking at the little girl brandishing the stick, they just didn’t know what.

“She looks like a little magician.” One of the nurses cooed at Dahlia and then everybody realized it! Shinobis used their Chakra in the art of war so it was weird for them to see it being used in another way. These mysterious people looked like the type who provided entertainment for little kids using their Chakra. It might also explain the strange clothes, the mountains of non-perishable food and daily necessities. It was most likely that they were artists who travelled from town to town and village to village performing little acts for entertainment purposes.

Like that, a theory of their origins formed. Of course, they would still have to wait for one of the men to wake up to ask about their Kekkei Genkai and if there were more like them out there. For now, they had a story to give to the public in case they earned some attention from others.

“ _Jemsh Pota_!” The little girl’s voice took everybody out of their thoughts and saw her pointing the stick to her Daddy. A little ceramic pot appeared in her hands. The adults were faced again with using their brain to understand what she was trying to say.

“A pot?” Asked Shikaku but Dahlia shook her head. Then she circled her hands around the little pot while earnestly looking at them hoping they would understand.

“Ah!” One of the Medics cried out. “Tōkō![1] The person who makes pots!” Only then they understood but their expression turned a bit weird. The man was named after a craftsman? Well, it kind of suited him. Maybe. They decided to ignore the other weird name, and started calling the short-haired man Tōkō in their minds.

“ _Shirush Baku!”_ Dahlia continued to call out pointing at the man with long hair.

“Baku? Isn’t that a demon?” Someone quietly wondered. But the Hokage, Jōnin Commander and Hyūga Head were intently staring at what Dahlia was doing. A little sparkle came out of the stick twinkling like a star then it turned into a black dog that looked a bit ferocious if someone asked them, then it turned back to the star.

“The Dog Star?” Shikaku guessed. He marveled at the brilliance of this kid. She could simply explain the names of each person according to how her parents taught her. “Right, so, we have, eh, Baku-san, Tōkō -san and… do you think we should give the girls other names? Theirs are a bit…”

Everybody else nodded. A bit strange and hard to pronounce.

“Then, how about Masako, Hanako and Sachiko in order from the oldest to the youngest?” Hiruzen suggested. He ignored the suspicious glances he got from the others at being able to quickly name the girls. “Cough, put them in a private room; they have the money to afford it. Also, put someone in charge to get to know the girls to discover more about where they come from and if they can tell you something else. Any new information, let me know.”

“Yes, Hokage-sama!” With that order left behind, the Sandaime’s entourage left.

* * *

[1] Tōkō means potter in Japanese.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Tōkō Clan comes out with more mysteries after some answers. 
> 
> The girls are put in an orphanage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's taking shape~  
> LOL, I think this fic will also be very long. I have written 9 chapters of it and the girls aren't 2y.o. yet... 
> 
> This should be one of the fics in which I will make up lots of things, or they will be inaccurate simply because I can't remember stuff from Naruto. I will try my best to not come out with something so outlandish xD
> 
> How have you been? Are you out of quarantine now? If so, please be very careful out there. If not, hang in there! Stay safe, dears!

* * *

After another week, the reconstruction of the places the Kyuubi destroyed with its attack were half-way done. In that week, the Elder’s Council went into an uproar when they discovered that a baby was made the new Jinchūriki of the Kyuubi and that said baby was being housed in the Sarutobi Compound. Blinded by grief and rage, most asked the Sandaime to throw that monster into the orphanage to avoid sullying the good name of the Sarutobi Clan. Of course, the ones who asked for the transfer where the civilian Elders.

Sarutobi Hiruzen rued the day the Council allowed civilians to be part of it. The Shinobi Clans weren’t even voicing any complaints; though, they were not saying any positive remark either so they were not much better. Some of the smart Clans were aware that the child was none other than the Yondaime’s son. Knowing the risk the newly born child would face if those news were leaked together with the information that the child was the Kyuubi Jinchūriki, and then putting Konoha in danger made them keep silent, watching the circus the civilian Elders were creating.

In the end, the Sandaime couldn’t hold his position against the most belligerent civilian Elders and Uzumaki Naruto, the son of their dear Yondaime, was to be put in the orphanage. Hiruzen thought that being a baby, Naruto would be taken care of yet he underestimated the resentment the people had for the Kyuubi and more when the news of Naruto being the container of such a monster was known. The kid would suffer at the hands of his own caretakers, seeing him as the Kyuubi itself. Of course, that would happen later on; for now, the Sandaime only had to worry about the latest report in his hands.

Their mysterious guests, Hiruzen decided to dub as the Tōkō Clan since all five had Chakra, were going through separations problems. The bodies from Tōkō-san and Baku-san were stable but didn’t show signs of improving so the Medics were not sure when they would wake up, if they ever did. As consequence, the girls would need to be sent to the orphanage since they couldn’t stay in the hospital and live there.

The report included details of what the girls had been doing this past week starting with the fact that their Chakra made a mess of the room, blowing up windows and machinery when they realized neither Tōkō-san nor Baku-san woke up no matter how many times they called for them. The nurses had a hard time explaining they were going to sleep for a long time so they didn’t need to worry about it. After that day, they never left the men’s side and would throw a tantrum if someone tried to take them out to play or something.

Many nurses volunteered to play and teach the girls since it seemed they knew things but weren’t able to name them, only using weird words. Luckily, as long as they weren’t separated from the men, they would be well-behaved and reacted well to the games and words the women taught them. Rummaging in their trunk to take out toys and clothes, the Medics noticed that each compartment contained even more things than it was even possible.

Hiruzen got in contact with his student Jiraiya so he could take a look at the type of Fūinjutsu used in that trunk to decipher how it worked. It would really help if the Sandaime could use it, like that he could hide all this paperwork in a drawer and forget about it. Cough. Hiruzen threw aside his utopic thoughts and continued reading the report. He had also sent Shikaku to get more information from them, and Hiashi to see if there were any changes in their Chakra.

To their surprise and amazement, the girls’ Chakra seemed to be changing. Before, it was placidly laying in the girls body, but now it seemed to be moving the way Chakra usually moves. The huge amount of Chakra made the movement look very slow but it was moving nonetheless. Hiashi described their Chakra as having a mind of its own when he analyzed it while they were talking with Shikaku.

If Shikaku said something they didn’t understand, the Chakra would lay still. If Shikaku did or said something that made them happy, it would vibrate as if feeling the girls emotions; meanwhile if they were distressed, angry or afraid, it would spike as if attacking whatever was making them feel like that and at the same time providing some sort of shield for protection. The most curious reaction was if they were sad, the Chakra ‘dripped’ from them; there was no other way he could put it. There was no leakage but that is how it looked.

Hiruzen was very tempted to call for Inoichi to look at their minds and see what their life before arriving at Konoha had been, yet he knew that would be detrimental to their still developing brain. And if the Sandaime could get away with it, he wanted them to become Shinobi; they would make a good addition to their Forces. Shikaku’s report was less informative than Hiashi’s but it was important nonetheless.

He discovered that they lived with their Dad, Tōkō-san, and their uncle, Baku-san, and they had no recollections of their mother though going through the albums, it seemed as if Tōkō-san was married. So, Shikaku concluded that the woman died from childbirth since the pictures only showed Tōkō-san and Baku-san with the newly born girls. He also figured, this with not much certainty, that the uncle, Baku-san, was part of some sort police force like the Uchiha. That added more mystery to their origins and making them think that they were not simple entertainers as firstly thought.

Also, the girls were fast learners, even if each had their own way to learn, cementing their thoughts that each of them was very different.

The perfect learner for Shinobis was the red-haired one, Hanako; she simply imitated whatever she was taught after intently staring at the process and she would persevere if she failed at the first time. She learned even faster if people explained alongside doing the action. The youngest one, Sachiko, did the things but soon she would lose interest if she could easily do it or couldn’t do it at all. She was an extreme learner. Instead, the eldest, Masako, was the bane of the more practical Shinobis, she wanted to know the why of everything.

The nurses ended up with headaches every time they taught her; from the moment she learned the word ‘why’, it was a constant in her life.

As soon as she got the information she needed plus a demonstration, she would do things at her first try. The nurses would love her dearly if she didn’t ask those many whys since as soon as she knew how to do something, she would patiently explain her little sister how to do it too, making the learning process many times more efficient.

There was also a short report with some information regarding that stick Shikaku got and sent to the Analysis Team. After countless experiments, they concluded that the stick reacted to the Chakra of those who were very outgoing bordering on noisy and somewhat cocky and flamboyant. This led them to believe that it was a matter of temperament and another thing they couldn’t identify since the stick reacted differently to the people’s Chakra. So apart from personality, there was another factor.

They also discovered by accident that the stick is a natural conductor of Chakra, though looking at the fragility of the wood, the Team discarded the idea that it was used as a main weapon.

The more things it was discovered of this Tōkō Clan, the more mysteries they unveiled.

The Sandaime sighed closing the report and inwardly wished luck to the person who was in charge of delivering the girls to the orphanage. He also made some calculations on how much money he needed to give the Matron in the orphanage to cover for all the things the girls might need. It was good that the family came with their own money and he had enough conscious to responsibly handle it, he couldn’t trust anybody else with that much amount of money. Even his own heart was itching to grab a few more coins than necessary to cover for some expenses in the Village but could stop himself before doing it.

He was even planning on selling them the most expensive house in the Village to make a lucrative business. If he charged a bit more for it, nobody would say anything; after all, it was for the Village’s sake, he convinced himself. The Anbu in charge of the Hokage’s security once again ignored the shameless old man who let out a disturbing smile as he counted the gold coins from the Tōkō Clan and ignored his paperwork.

The Hokage would surely cry when he discovers his paperwork had increased.

* * *

The girls screamed and wailed bloody murder on their way out of the hospital. The whole place knew about them and their relatives being in a coma, so hearing those cries made them feel pity for them. Luckily for the Medics and nurses, the one responsible for carrying them and their luggage was one Maito Gai who didn’t seem to mind that they were screaming right by his ear, leaving tears and snot on his shirt and freshly smiled at all the women he looked passing by his side.

The nurses bade farewell to their temporary charges while looking at the teenager carrying them with respect.

“Don’t worry my youthful flowers! Maito Gai will take care of you on this lovely trip to your new home!” He exclaimed earning wails as response.

Taking a good hold of them with the help of the baby carriers he borrowed from the nurses, the energetic newly-minted Chuunin started running at a fast pace silencing the girls who gripped on his shirt for dear life. Minutes later, and half their way to the orphanage, the girls were laughing at the daunting acrobatics and jumps Gai did. It had to be said that Nara Shikaku was smart enough to leave the task to this guy since he knew, unknowingly or not, how to handle kids. At the end of their trip, the girls sported big smiles and their hair looked even more unruly than before due to the wind.

“Good morning, lovely lady in charge of taking care of such cheerful little kids, I’m Maito Gai and have been tasked to hand over the new residents to your youthful compound!” The teenager cheerfully greeted the first lady he noticed in the yard.

“Uh, good morning, these must be Tōkō Masako, Hanako and Sachiko, right?” The lady looked at the girls in Gai’s arms.

“Yes! This one here is Masako,” he said while placing the dark-haired girl on the ground. “This is Hanako,” he then did the same with the red-haired girl. “And this one is Sachiko.” Last he put the blonde-haired girl on the ground. The three looked at the lady in front of them with curious eyes, not letting Gai’s pants go.

“My, such cute girls, my name is Ai and I will be taking care of you from now on, let’s get along well, ok?” The lady called Ai said with a smile trying to be friendly. The three just stared at her making the atmosphere a bit awkward.

Noticing the silence was too long, Gai crouched in front of the girls and patting their heads he said, “You will be staying in this place for some time, so be good to the ladies here, listen to what they say and be happy.” Gai was explained by the nurses of their situation so he couldn’t help saying some words to encourage them.

“Play?” The youngest, Sachiko, pitifully asked.

“Ah, right now I can’t play with you but I promise to come to play with you in the future, ok?” He gave them his most sparkling smile that the lady found a bit obnoxious but the girls nonetheless liked.

“En!” The three replied. They silently made their way towards the lady and held her long skirt.

“Yosh![1] Now, with the luggage,” he then said, taking out the girls’ trunks from the scroll he used as container. “The small one contains books so you don’t have to worry about it. As for the large one, the lock has numbers. If you press 1, the compartment holds album pictures. If you ever want to show them in the future. Number 2 has their bathroom necessities, they seem to know which one they use, ah, Hanako-chan seems a bit uncomfortable while bathing but otherwise lets you bath her, you might pay attention to it. Number 3 has all their clothes, they need to learn how to wear them but look happy to choose them on their own. Number 4 has canned food in it, but you can ignore that. Hokage-sama will give you a pension for their food and subsequent clothes when they can’t wear the ones they have now. Number 5 has their toys. Number 6 has some bed sheets and miscellaneous things like child’s books and finally don’t open number 7.”

The caretaker, Ai, looked a bit dizzy at the information provided but was able to grasp the general idea. Basically, the only ones she didn’t have to use were number 7 and 4. She didn’t bother to ask anything about the mechanism in the trunk as that was something related to the Shinobis and she only needed to take care of the girls. Good thing they were already toddlers and could walk and feed themselves, contrary to the baby that was also newly placed under her care.

“Are they potty trained?” She asked after some seconds.

“Uh, they are learning, they might have some accidents but they mostly let you know when they need to go.” Luckily, Gai was able to recite all the useful information relayed by the nurses to the lady with a straight face and with as many details as possible. Probably, other guys would be a bit ashamed to tell that type of information regarding girls to a lady.

“Thanks for your help Maito-san, we will take care of the luggage and accommodations, have a nice day.” Ai bade him farewell with a small wave. “Say bye bye to Maito-san, girls.” She prompted and the sisters also waved at him.

“See you later, youthful little flowers!” With that he smiled obnoxiously again to then run leaving a cloud of dust behind.

The girls’ new room was a bit small but considering many orphans resulted from the recent Third Shinobi War and the Kyuubi attack, their room was one of the largest ones. It had the basics: a bed, a wardrobe, a table with its chair, and the window that was big enough to let plenty of sun in. Ai let them familiarize themselves with the room leaving the big trunk open with their toys so they could entertain themselves for the time being while she took a look at the baby she was in charge of. The baby boy was still sleeping in the basinet so she went back to the girls to help them arrange their room.

In the room, the girls had already taken out some of the toys but kept rummaging in the box for a few seconds more until they finally dug out a shabby black dog, a stag and a doe stuffed toys which they held for dear life. Ai sighed; even if they were young, they had already started to pay attention to their surroundings and they clearly looked very afraid and insecure in their new environment. She decided to spent some time with them to let them familiarize with her.

“Masako, Hanako, Sachiko, how about we arrange this place?” Ai gently asked. The girls looked at her with interest. Ai slowly made her way towards the trunk and pressed the number 6, if she wasn’t wrong, then that compartment held the bed sheets. She guessed correctly when the colorful sheets came to her sight. “Why don’t we place a few of these on the bed?” She asked pointing at the sheets and then at the bed.

The girls took a moment to understand and when they did, they did the same as with their toys, taking sheet after sheet looking for something. They enthusiastically babbled while picking the sheets until finally they each grabbed one, Masako held a blue blanket with winged horses on it, Hanako held a purple one with little pink flowers and Sachiko held a green blanket with paw prints on it. Ai was surprised by their choices as none of the blankets looked girly enough, only Hanako’s blanket looked mildly girly with the flowers yet these three girls were completely different to the other girls in the orphanage that liked pink or yellow in everything.

Ai chose a white cover with curious golden balls with wings for the bed and then neatly folded the girls’ blankets on the red pillows they also took out. The bed looked atrocious with the combination of colors but the girls seemed to like it, so Ai left it like that. Next, they decided to place some books on the table so they could look at them. The books contained weird animals yet Ai said nothing about them just silently placing them when Masako dutifully passed them to her with a cute. “This one.”

They ended up placing all the books on the table which looked ready to fall down, and mentally noted that the girls needed a small shelf for the books.

Since it seemed the Hokage himself was going to pass the pension, it was appropriate to mention it in the list they were going to make to ask for things the girls needed.

The wardrobe would have suffered the same fate as the table with the many clothes the girls possessed, yet Ai managed to convinced them to only place two weeks worth of clothes in it. The wardrobe still looked ready to burst but it was better than before. By the time they were done, it was lunch time, though the sisters refused to leave the room and Ai had no choice but to bring their food to their room.

As the girls were left eating, Ai went to prepare a bottle for the baby boy who had woken up as if knowing it was time for his meal. The caretaker returned to the girls’ room together with the baby boy and the bottle so she could keep an eye on them while feeding the baby. The moment Ai entered the room, the girls stopped eating and stared at the new person in Ai’s arms. Seeing them curious, Ai decided to present him to them.

“This is Naruto, he’s the youngest here. Say hi to Naruto girls!” Ai said with great enthusiasm while waving one of the baby’s arms. Naruto didn’t pay attention to the girls since he was too busy sucking his milk yet that was not the same for them; they had never seen a baby before so they were very curious about him. Ai found it very amusing as the girls clumsily continued eating but never once stopped staring at Naruto.

Finally, when Naruto was done with his bottle and Ai burped him, the caretaker accommodated him in her arms so the girls could see him better. Actually, Naruto couldn’t even pay attention to his surroundings as he was barely two weeks old, he could barely open his eyes for short lapses of time and his mobility was nil. To Ai, taking care of babies this young was somewhat boring and more demanding but seeing as the girls she was also going to take care of took a liking to baby Naruto, she decided in her heart that she would make them all become friends.

The first to finish eating was Sachiko (since she mostly uses her hands to eat), so she was the first to approach the baby. “Naruto is very young so pat him carefully, ok? Here, give me your hand.” Ai took Sachiko’s hand and showed her how she had to pat Naruto’s head.

Sachiko looked fascinated by the softness of this new creature in front of her. As far as her infant mind could remember, there was only Daddy who was very, very tall and always played with her. There was also Uncle Paddy, who was also very tall and also played with her turning into a big dog and finally there were her sisters, who were just like her but still played with her. She had never seen someone this small and soft and somewhat… useless. Why didn’t this soft person move? The baby barely opened his eyes to look at who was touching him but then Sachiko did something Ai never expected.

She smacked baby Naruto, who started wailing like no tomorrow.

The three girls startled at the sound and looked with wide eyes at the source of the noise. Ai flustered and quickly stood up to calm the baby down, who ended up falling asleep. She sighed relieved and turned to look at Sachiko who didn’t look a bit ashamed of what she did; granted, they were babies too, almost toddlers, so it was a bit understandable they couldn’t handle a baby younger than them. However, she still decided to warn them not do it again.

“Sachiko, you don’t smack baby Naruto in the face. That was bad of you.” Surprisingly, Sachiko and the others recognized the reprimanding tone even if they couldn’t understand what she was saying, so the three in unison lowered their head as if ashamed. Ai couldn’t stay firm seeing that and just patted Sachiko on the head while taking baby Naruto back to his room so he could nap peacefully.

And that was how the girls’ first encounter with Uzumaki Naruto went.

* * *

[1] Yosh = Ok


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How do Shinobis see Magic?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, time to bullshit in the fic has arrived! LOL
> 
> I have to remind you that my views might be (or must be) inaccurate as I am making up stuff on how Shinobis see the Magic System compared to their Chakra System according to what I remember from the Narutoverse and the HP Universe, too. That's why it's hard to do Crossovers, lol. You have to make the too mix seamlessly, or at least as best as possible. 
> 
> Today I learned a lot from the videocall I had with my class and I have even more homework. So, I won't update any other story this week apart from Heather and this one. I will do my best to write bit by bit so you can have an update of anything xD
> 
> Stay safe dears, if you are out of quarantine, take all precautions necessary as this pandemic won't be over so easily. I hope you are doing fine. For those still in quarantine, let's hang in there! We can do it!

* * *

The following days Ai tried her best to make the girls come out of their room but it was to no avail. The other caretakers asked her if there was something wrong with them but Ai always responded that it didn’t seem like it, to which the other more experienced ladies guessed that they just might be sad to be separated from their relatives. Comatose as they were, the girls could still see them back when they were staying at the hospital, yet now they were thrust into a new environment with new people so they were still adjusting. Perhaps bringing kids their age to their room might help them.

Ai decided to implement that idea so one day after the girls had their breakfast, she took one boy and one girl their same age to the room to play with them.

“Masako-chan, Hanako-chan, Sachiko-chan, let me present you some new friends. This one is Shin-chan,” Ai presented while patting the boy’s head. “And this is Yukina-chan.” She then patted the girl’s head. Since both were toddlers like the sisters, they first paid attention to the toys around the room and each took one to play with it. Ai thought that maybe it was too early for the girls to interact with others seeing as they only stared at the newcomers.

Thankfully, with Sachiko’s guide, the three girls started playing with the other toddlers. It was all fun and laughs for some time until Shin-chan decided he wanted to play with one of the plush toys on the bed. Ai thought those were fine too since she had seen the girls playing with them but it seemed that those toys were actually not allowed to be touched by others when Hanako swiftly took the dog plushie away from Shin-chan’s chubby fingers startling him. Next thing Ai knew, the both of them were fighting for it but the plushie couldn’t handle the rough push and pull and it tore apart.

Ai sincerely thought Hanako would cry but she just stared at the half of the dog plushie in her hand in the silent room. Just when the caretaker was about to go and smooth things out, she saw with horror how Shin-chan was suddenly screaming while dangling from the ceiling. Ai knew that the one doing that was Hanako seeing as the girl was looking at Shin-chan with empty but scary eyes so she firmly if a bit shakily called out, “Stop it, Hanako!”

Without any notice, Shin-chan fell down on the bed still crying as if the world was ending. Ai ran to pick up Shin-chan to calm him down unconsciously taking a step away from Hanako who also began sobbing. Her other sisters were instantly on her hugging her and holding back their own tears mournfully staring at the torn plushie dog. The incident was reported to the Matron who promptly reported it to the Hokage.

Sarutobi Hiruzen read the report with a mild headache. He expected the girls’ Kekkei Genkai to be special, he just never thought it would be this troublesome. Hiashi’s report became even more accurate regarding the actions their Chakra took depending on their mood and just to be safe rather than sorry, he suggested the Matron to leave the girls alone for the time being unless they initiated contact with the other kids. The Matron was a bit skeptical and concerned about the other kids’ safety but still decided to heed the Hokage’s suggestion.

Peace came back to the girls’ room with only Ai and baby Naruto visiting it.

There was nothing Ai could do about it, she still had to take care of the girls even if now she was a bit wary of them and baby Naruto had no other choice as he couldn’t even move or think by himself. During those days, the girls learned more words and could basically communicate with Ai for what they wanted, they even recognized baby Naruto and asked for him when they didn’t see him with her. Ai was a bit relieved that they at least didn’t seem to have problems with baby Naruto so she always took him with her to play or at least keep company to the girls.

After two weeks of the same, Ai started to worry the sisters would never want to socialize with kids their age until Maito Gai came as a heaven-sent. Although late, the teenager kept his promise to come play with the girls who were very enthusiastic to know he had come. Ai watched with amusement how they cheerfully picked their clothes to go out while she helped them dress whenever they had problems, for example with socks and shoes.

Then they ran in the hallways as fast as their short legs could, carefully went down the stairs, and then ran again towards the gate all under the impressed eyes of Ai. She never thought the girls would remember the way to the gate as they never go out of their room except for bathing, which they also did without any other kids around. The older kids playing in the front courtyard looked curiously to the three girls running to the gate; they had never seen them before.

Neither of the sisters paid attention to the other kids and quickly made their way to the obnoxious teenager wearing a green spandex suit, with a funny haircut and bushy eyebrows. Ai somehow worried this guy would be a bad influence on the girls but there was no way she would curb the sisters’ enthusiasm by reducing the time they could see him; after all, she was still worried they needed to go out more and be like other kids.

“Good afternoon, my youthful little flowers! My beautiful lady!” Uh, yeah, maybe cutting off the time with him was not that bad of an idea after all.

“Good afternoon, Maito-san. Thanks for coming to play with the girls.” Ai said with a forced smile on her face.

“It’s no problem at all. On such a beautiful afternoon, it’s better if such pretty flowers come out to play.” Gai replied with a sparkly smile.

“Uh, yes, you’re right. Please make sure they are back before it gets dark. Now, girls, be good to Maito-san and have fun.” Ai advised while smiling at the girls who were trembling in excitement to go out.

“Yes!” They replied in unison.

Ai watched the four walking away and sighed. She never knew it until then how tense she was while taking care of them since that time Hanako dangerously dangled poor Shin-chan in the air. She was vaguely explained they were like those people, the Shinobi, who had powers beyond a normal person and that needed to be trained; yet even with that explanation she felt uneasy. What if the next person to be affected was her?

She was surely thinking too much.

The only reason Hanako did what she did was because the plushie toy, which represented Sirius, was torn apart. Her Magic lashed out at her sadness and tried to make the one responsible get away. Of course her sisters knew what happened and why so they fully supported her while Ai was left with the fear that if she wasn’t careful around them, something might happen to her. It was all a big misunderstanding as the girls were actually well-behaved around adults as they only interacted with their Daddy and Uncle who were adults, so adults were the safest around them.

Turning around, Ai was faced with a bombardment of questions coming from the older kids asking who those girls were. Ai thought it was fine to let them know so they would get along the moment the girls decided to come out of their room.

* * *

Meanwhile, one Maito Gai and three girls were seen running towards the park. Well, the girls were running while the teenager barely hurried his pace. He was not a Taijutsu expert for nothing, his stamina and speed were nothing to be scoffed at. It was a rare scene to see the teenager with little kids so it drew the curiosity of many, the other reason for their curiosity was because they had never seen those kids before. The neighbors couldn’t say they knew each and every kid in the Village but at least the ones around their neighborhood were not strangers to them so they concluded they were orphans.

Meanwhile, one Maito Gai and three girls were seen running towards the park. Well, the girls were running while the teenager barely hurried his pace. He was not a Taijutsu expert for nothing, his stamina and speed were nothing to be scoffed at. It was a rare scene to see the teenager with little kids so it drew the curiosity of many, the other reason for their curiosity was because they had never seen those kids before. The neighbors couldn’t say they knew each and every kid in the Village but at least the ones around their neighborhood were not strangers to them so they concluded they were orphans.

The park wasn’t far but wasn’t near either. When they arrived, the girls were panting clearly exhausted of running around while Gai looked as fresh as lettuce, not one drop of sweat on his face. Since it was the afternoon, many kids from the neighborhood were playing around the games in the park and the mothers only looked with mild interest at the newcomers. Of course, seeing the obnoxious teenager with the girls, they quickly turned around and ignored them.

Maito Gai, who had never interacted with kids this young before had no idea how to play with them even when he promised them to do so. As such, the first thing that came to his mind to keep them entertained was to teach them how to train, Shinobi style.

“Alright, dear flowers of youth! To take advantage of your youthful lives, Maito Gai will teach you how to become strong Shinobis!” Saying so, he promptly started stretching his body with weird poses. The girls stared at the strange actions but faithful to being imitation machines at that age, they tried their best to copy him.

Most of the times they ended up falling down but they kept doing the strange poses while giggling as they were funny to them. They followed Gai’s lead for a couple of minutes until Hanako noticed the wild flowers in the bushes around the park. The weather in Konoha barely changed, apart from days where it would rain, the weather mostly stayed warm throughout the year; trees and flowers could always be seen flourishing in Konoha, it was no wonder it was called Village Hidden in the Leaves.

The girls’ world mostly consisted of their house back when they lived in the Magical World; afraid and a bit paranoid that they would be discovered if they went out to the front or backyard in their Cottage, James Potter never took them out to experience the flora in the house. After that, they spent their time accompanying their Daddy and Uncle in their hospital room with nary a chance to go out, so they again weren’t able to experience an outdoor experience. In the orphanage, even when they were able to go out, they never liked going out, not even the always energetic Sachiko.

Seeing wild flowers for the first time in her life, Hanako stared at them with great curiosity and plucked one to feel it. Of course, as a toddler, she had no notion of how to take care of a flower so it was soon destroyed by her chubby fingers. Satisfied by her actions, she ran back to Gai.

“Gai! Gai! Gai!” She yelled with a big smile on her face. He paused on his training and looked at her. “Look! Flower!”

“Oh, let me see.” Gai’s expression softened. He had noticed how she had been staring at the flowers while Masako went to play in the sandbox leaving him with only the energetic Sachiko. He didn’t mind as long as he could keep an eye on them, he still had someone who could follow his lead anyway. Gai and Sachiko got closer to Hanako who had her hands cupped as if holding something. What he saw made his eyes widen in surprise. As soon as Hanako opened her hands, which contained nothing, a flower bloomed out of the blue.

Gai stared at the flower and gently picked it up, it had the texture of a flower, it even looked the same as the ones she had been looking at before. It was no Genjutsu or illusion, the flower was pretty much real but how could she create a flower out of nothing? Wood Jutsu? So soon? “It’s a very pretty flower, just like yourself!” He smiled handsomely while putting the flower on her fiery hair. “Why don’t you make some for your sisters too?” Hanako happily nodded once again cupping her hands, she focused.

This time Gai paid attention to how she did it and felt how a part of her Chakra moved and molded becoming the flower but instead of staying like a Chakra construction, it solidified and became a real flower. Even if Gai couldn’t use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu he knew how Chakra flowed and what could be done with it; Chakra could be condensed and manipulated to become water, fire, wind, earth or lightning. There were other variations with the fusion of the basic forms of Chakra but at the end of the day, Chakra always stayed as Chakra.

It might look and feel the same as the elements yet it always was Chakra.

Instead, what Hanako did was one step further to what Chakra could do. Before coming to pick them up, he had been summoned by the Hokage to observe them. The task should have been better assigned to a Jōnin but seeing as he was closer to the girls, the Hokage had assigned it to him. He was warned that the girls possessed a Kekkei Genkai, they were just not sure how it worked, even now Gai wasn’t sure how she did it but as long as he reported what he saw, it was enough.

Gai continued training his loyal follower, Sachiko, not forgetting to keep an eye on Hanako or Masako to see if they would do something else but this time it was his follower who surprised him with her abilities. While running, she messily tripped on a rock. Gai thought she would cry but instead, she stared at the protruding rock on the ground and this one completely vanished. Learning from Hanako, now Gai paid more attention to whatever the girls did so he could feel the sudden spike in Chakra from Sachiko’s body which wrapped around the rock and it vanished in the blink of an eye.

It looked like a normal Earth Jutsu but there were no hand gesture, no words and the Chakra movement felt different. He wasn’t sure if the vanishing of the rock was an Earth Jutsu or not.

“Continue!” Sachiko’s voice took him out of his musings.

With a bright, sparkly smile Gai replied, “Come Sachiko! Let’s enjoy the Spring of Youth!”

“Yes!” She yelled with enthusiasm making Gai feel very touched that he cried while teaching her the next exercise.

After another hour of training, he let Sachiko go play with her sisters on the sandbox with the other kids. He passively watched them create weird forms with the sand together and babbling all the while. He then continued training alone still keeping an eye on them. By dusk, when the mothers started to bring their kids away, he also did the same. He smiled fondly at their disheveled appearance; there was sand in their hair and clothes, Hanako even stained her trousers from where she knelt on the grass and Sachiko looked like a wild child with a dirty face and hands.

Just as he was going to start cleaning them with a handkerchief, Masako beat him to it. She patted her sisters hair and clothes making the sand and stains disappear before his eyes. When done, the three looked as good as new as if they had not done anything for the past three hours. By now, Gai was not surprised yet he was curious of the way they manipulated their Chakra to do their bidding freely. Gai didn’t want to be irresponsible but he couldn’t think of another way to label the girls, they were genius Chakra manipulators.

After dropping the girls back in the orphanage while promising to come again, he made his way to the Hokage Tower to report his findings.

The Hokage looked pensive smoking his pipe after hearing Gai’s report. It seemed the Kekkei Genkai of the Tōkō Clan was more complex than he thought. He still didn’t know if it was dangerous, remembering the incident with the kid. Their Chakra was too free, too volatile, readily responding to their emotions so he was of the mind that it was better if they could train it beforehand to avoid hurting others or even themselves. When they were of age, they would be encouraged to join the Shinobi Academy no matter if the Father or Uncle were awake by that time or not. He had no idea what would happen if their Chakra was not trained.

For now though, it might be better if some Jōnin helped them subtly.

“When you take them out next time, take them to the park near the Hyūga Compound, I will ask for Hizashi to be there with his son, if I am not mistaken they must be around the same age.” Ordered the Sandaime.

“Yes, Hokage-sama!” Gai replied making an obeisance to then leave.

Hiruzen exhaled a long puff of smoke silently pondering about the mysterious Tōkō Clan. Just in the afternoon, he also received a report from Hiashi on the condition of the two men in a coma. Contrary to the girls Chakra which started moving according to the normal Chakra System, the men’s Chakra very slowly transformed the surrounding Chakra to their unique Chakra. With the rate at which it was being transformed it would take years for them to regain the safest level to be conscious.

Now it was safe to say that their Chakra was different from others, it had a different quality yet it was Chakra nonetheless. Seeing the contrast, Hiashi made the bold assumption that they had a different way to train their Chakra, and that the girls would have been the same as the men if they were trained under the same method but now that neither men could teach the girls, the Chakra itself was developing to what it was learning from others who also possessed Chakra.

Hiruzen’s heart skipped a beat at the thought. Sentient Chakra. That was the final verdict from Hyūga Hiashi. Their Kekkei Genkai was, most likely, sentient Chakra. As far as Hiruzen knew, the only Chakra possible of sentience enough to become creatures were the Biju, better known as Chakra Monsters. The Tōkō Clan’s Chakra still depended on the person so it wasn’t sentient enough to become a Biju yet it seemed to have a similar characteristic.

Just the Biju alone were enough to put fear in the heart of the Shinobi and civilian population, now this Clan with abundant and sentient Chakra appeared out of nowhere. He couldn’t imagine just how strong they would become if they decided to be Shinobis, no, they must become Shinobis. Konoha didn’t need people with pseudo-Biju Chakra running around with no training.

* * *

Gai’s next visit came almost two weeks later. During that time, the girls finally decided to come out of their room though they never took the initiative to play with other kids. They would claim a corner of the sandbox as theirs and play on their own unless another kid approached them to play. The older kids were curious of them but seeing as they were mere babies who could barely talk, they paid no attention to them. The ones around the girls’ age already had their own group so it was weird for new kids to approach them.

Still, seeing the girls coming out of their room on their own was progress in Ai’s, their caretaker, eyes. To her, letting the other kids get used to them and they getting used to other kids even if there was not that much interaction was better than their self-imposed isolation. If Ai knew the only reason the girls were out there was because like that they could know first-hand when Maito Gai visited them to play, then she would cry bitter tears.

Their plan bore fruits when Gai visited again. They were the first to notice and immediately ran towards him to receive the obnoxiously enthusiastic teenager.

“Good afternoon, beautiful Love flower!” He greeted towards Ai who followed the girls as soon as she saw them running.

“Good afternoon, Maito-san. You seem to be a bit early today, the girls were about to eat lunch.” She completely ignored his words and went directly to business.

“That’s no problem at all! I was going to take them out for lunch!” Gai replied with a winsome smile.

“Huh? Uh…” Ai wanted to refuse but seeing the wide eyes from the girls, she was giving in. It was just lunch, they were on solids already and they always behaved, so there was no reason to say no. Plus, going out to know the village was not that bad. “Alright, just make sure that whatever they eat they are cut in small pieces so they can chew it better.” Ai advised to finally let them go.

“Leave it to me, Love Flower!” Ai ignored the sparkly smile and what she thought was a sunset background when it was barely noon. She must be tired to be imagining things.

Since Gai had the mission to take them near the Hyūga Compound, instead of running to the nearest park, they walked around the neighborhoods, along the Naka river while looking for a decent restaurant to eat. Gai was of the idea to take them to the Akimichi BBQ shop but that was on the other side of the village and he wasn’t sure if they would want to walk there. They were toddlers after all, no matter how much energy they seemed to have, it was bound to deplete sooner rather than later.

Well, that was until he met one of his team members, Genma.

“What are you doing, Gai?” The chuunin asked looking weirdly at Gai who had three girls following him as if they were ducklings.

“I am taking these lovely flowers to eat.” He simply replied with his usual enthusiasm.

Genma’s weird expression turned even weirder, “Gai, it might be better if you look for girls our age.” Gai’s smile turned stiff knowing where Genma was going.

“It’s a mission.” Gai whispered making Genma’s expression turn a bit solemn while looking at the girls with renewed interest. “You might as well come with us! Here, take Hanako with you!” The green-suited teenager didn’t even leave a chance for Genma to refuse placing her on Genma’s arms while he picked Masako and Sachiko and running while shouting they were heading to the Akimichi BBQ shop.

“Oi! Gai!” Genma shouted back but the other teenager had already left. Genma sighed and inwardly cursed at his overly enthusiastic team member. It was lucky that he had nothing to do. He looked down at the girl in his arms and found her staring at him with very intense eyes. Genma noticed that the toddler was very cute and a feeling of sorrow settled in his heart. “You are going to be hated by the girls.” He still remembered how the other girls looked at Kurenai when they were in the Academy. Anyway, he took the well-behaved girl to the Akimichi BBQ shop where Gai had already arrived and was already ordering.

“Yo, Genma! You are very slow!” Gai yelled while laughing exuberantly.

“Yes, yes, you are too fast.” Genma replied offhandedly. It was true anyway, Gai was very fast. The girls’ wind swept hair was proof of it, though they didn’t seem to care. He placed Hanako on another chair while he took the last one. Meat sounded good, he had a bit of money from his latest mission so he was able to afford it.

Lunch was a bit of a messy affair thanks to Sachiko but it was enjoyable. The girls loved the tender and juicy meat that they ate until it was all gone. The teenagers were amazed at the girls appetite and Gai was even starting to worry if they were eating enough back in the orphanage. He decided to subtly probe with their caretaker.

Since Genma had nothing to do, he decided to follow Gai towards the Hyūga Compound. He was informed by Gai why they were going there and he wanted to take a look, the so called mission wasn’t any secret either, anyway, as it was more a request from the Sandaime. As soon as they arrived to the park near the Hyūga Compound, they found that Hyūga Hizashi was already there with a toddler calmly sitting beside him.

“Sorry for being late, Hyūga-san!” Gai immediately apologized and bowed while still carrying two of the sisters who laughed at the motion.

Hizashi stood up and gently smiled, “It’s ok, we just arrived too. Come, Neji, meet your new friends.” The boy quietly climbed down the bench and stood beside his Dad looking curiously at the girls who were in front of him. The girls also looked at him but their eyes were very intense making the boy a bit uncomfortable and subconsciously hid behind his Dad’s legs. Hizashi chuckled at his son’s antics. “Hello, girls, my name is Hyūga Hizashi and this is my son Neji. Nice to meet you.”

The oldest, Masako, seemed to get the hang of the conversation so she immediately replied, “ _Dahla, Rosy, Vailet Pota,_ nash ta mi you!” She presented herself and her sisters with their previous names leaving a very dumbfounded Hizashi.

“Ah, those are her previous names,” Gai hurriedly explained. “The Hokage must have told Hyūga-san about their circumstances.” Hizashi nodded confirming the teenager’s words. “Their names are Masako, Hanako and Sachiko now, from the Tōkō Clan. Now, girls, go play with your new friend Neji.” Gai said gently pushing the girls towards the timid boy.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plans are being made regarding the triplets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've read the comments, and I must say James and Sirius will wake up when they have to wake up, not later, not sooner. 
> 
> I agree with your points that the Shinobi World is like a military dictatorship with a very extreme patriotism, pretty much like creating brainwashed soldier kids. It is a very messed up World hidden under the terms friendship, courage, and protecting the weak. I might leave all those problems in my fic and make my triplets the black sheep with different mentality, or at least purpose. I am not sure. Some things come up while writing and there is no clear objective for the fic. With time, it will come.
> 
> I hope you enjoy the chapter and hope you are up for the ride of this story!
> 
> Stay safe dears!

* * *

Hizashi had never seen his son looking so happy. He admitted that the cause of his son’s timidity was because of him. Since his brother’s wife got pregnant, Neji’s fate as a branch member and carrier of that accursed seal was set. So, Hizashi had no other option but to start training his own son to be a puppet under whatever child from the main branch was born. That left a bitter taste in Hizashi’s mouth. His son can also continue with the Hyūga line; with what right the elders consider him dispensable?

And what if that newborn baby was a girl? The girl would just be married off to another Clan. Would that option be better than his son?

Hizashi hated.

He hated his Clan’s rules, the elders, his own brother and even the unborn child for throwing his boy aside. But they will learn that his son was better than anyone, even better than his brother Hiashi. Like that, Hizashi started training Neji who was already showing his genius in how to correctly use his Chakra according to the Hyūga Techniques. He was proud of Neji, though he felt sorry to put him under such pressure and was starting to see that Neji was becoming less and less of a kid, or a toddler.

Though no matter how bitter his heart felt, Hizashi knew that it was better than to be a weakling member of the branch side.

But now, his son was running around the park together with three unknown girls trying to catch some flying golden ball. When Hizashi saw that ball, he was surprised since the little object had some complex tangled Chakra alongside some seals that made it fly around like a bird. The thing was fast, not fast enough for his trained eyes but he could see that sometimes the kids had difficulty in following it. Hizashi narrowed his eyes.

According to Maito Gai, the toy was from the girls’ family and if Hizashi was not wrong in his assumptions, then the toy was made to train the kids’ reflexes. At the beginning, the kids almost always lost sight of the ball and couldn’t respond correctly to the sharp turns it made but they got used to it and it was rare for them now to lose sight of the ball; of course catching it was another story. They were too young to have the speed enough to get their hands on it. Either way, Hizashi was happy knowing that this ball was meant to train them.

Right, it wasn’t the time to be indulgently watching his kid actually being a kid. Hizashi still had a mission.

Activating the Byakugan, he paid close attention to the girls’ Chakra. As the Hokage said, their Chakra reacted to their mood; it was happily vibrating inside them, even forgetting to move according to the normal Chakra System. It seemed that the true nature of their Chakra was to freely flow, while moving as if the body had Chakra veins was just a whim of their Chakra. His brother, Hiashi, had concluded that their Chakra was sentient and looking at it now, Hizashi was of the same idea.

If that was the case, then it would have been better for the Chakra to freely move in them and not take the trouble of moving as if their bodies had a normal Chakra System. Then, he thought of the report he was made to read for when he interacted with the girls. It was suspected that their Chakra could be trained to different systems. Their Father and Uncle’s Chakra System was different than normal Shinobis, but now that the girls weren’t learning their own Clan’s way, then it was starting to imitate the nearest Chakra System available.

Hizashi was now convinced but he still needed to prove the assumption. Deactivating the Byakugan, he called for Maito Gai.

“Who is the best learner from the three?” Hizashi asked.

“Ah, that would be Hanako, the second sister.” Gai answered while looking at the girl with fiery red hair running around trying to catch the flying ball.

“Not the eldest?” Hizashi asked a bit surprised. He had read the report that the girls had different ways to learn and was mentioned that the fastest was Masako, the eldest.

“She is a fast learner, doing things at her first try but… she asks too much.” Gai’s voice turned a bit awkward, sincerely that one was the type of student he would never like to have.

“Ah.” Hizashi understood and chuckled. Yes, for a Taijutsu master like Maito Gai, the intellectual type was not his favorite one. He actually found those a bit tiring too, wanting to know everything but it was gratifying as they were practically geniuses on their own. “What about the youngest, Sachiko?”

Gai brilliantly smiled, “That one is the do it or not do it at all type.” He even laughed. Hizashi’s lips twitched. The practical learner then; no wonder Gai smiled like that, it was the type the Chuunin liked. Right, then he would make do with Hanako and the Hyūga member called for her. The girl looked back proving that even though her sister presented her with a different name, they still accepted their new names. The girl quickly made her way towards Hizashi and stood attentively in front of him.

Hizashi was mildly surprised seeing such a well-behaved girl. Most kids their age would not even look at the adult calling for them but she even came and stood quietly, waiting for him to talk.

“Gai told me you make pretty flowers, can I have one too, please?” Hizashi gently asked.

Hanako brightly smiled at him, making his fatherly feelings go to Tōkō-san; his daughter would be hated by girls and pursued by many boys in the future. Hizashi even wondered if his Neji would like her too. The girl’s movements took him out of his musings and instantly activated his Byakugan to see how her Chakra reacted. The Chakra moved towards her hands in a tide but from it just fine strings began to construct the flower at a really fast pace, it was almost instant that if he hadn’t activated the Byakugan, he would have missed it.

But the way her Chakra moved, it was almost as elemental Chakra and made him wonder if she had Wood Chakra.

When the flower was done, he was about to deactivate his Byakugan when he almost jumped in shock by what happened next. As everybody knew, the Chakra, even if it had all the characteristics of an element, would disappear some time later, even immediately. That was because the Chakra construction couldn’t retain the shape it was given for a long time if the Chakra influx was cut but Hanako actually materialized her Chakra, she gave it a solid form. It wasn’t a real flower, per se, but it was close to it. It would last longer than most Chakra constructions, it would even wilt like a normal flower though it wasn’t really a normal flower.

This…

Hizashi was amazed. He was aware that there existed many Clans in the village and out of it, but it was the first time he knew of a clan which could consolidate their Chakra the way this Tōkō Clan could. Their Kekkei Genkai was truly too powerful. Was it like this when the first Chakra users were born? With their Chakra free and able to do the unimaginable? If so, weren’t the Tōkō Clan descendants of the first Chakra users and managed to retain the characteristics of the origin of Chakra?

“Here!” Hanako’s cheerful voice took him out of his wild thoughts, making him calm down. Small hands grabbed his rough ones and gently put the flower she made on his palm.

“Thank you.” He gently smiled to which she returned another bright smile and went back to play. Hizashi continued staring at the flower in his hands, quietly examining it. Apart from the solidified Chakra there was a very tiny filament in the flower that was running around the flower as if in a cycle. It was obviously that Chakra filament which gave the flower life. “Gai-kun, what happened before she first made a flower?”

“She stared at a flower, picked it up and began to pluck its petals one by one until only the stem was left, and even then she also cut it in pieces.” Gai relayed what he saw when Hanako was examining the flower.

Hizashi stayed silent, intently staring at the flower and the Chakra moving around it. He got goosebumps when his mind provided him with a theory of why she basically destroyed the flower. Her Chakra thorough and comprehensively examined the flower while she was touching it, then it remembered the flower’s characteristics and components and finally created an imitation of the flower giving it something like a bastardized life.

Wouldn’t that mean that regardless of what the girls were taught, their Chakra would be able to replicate it? If they were taught all the possible elemental Chakras, they would be able to use them all.

The afternoon passed by quickly under the childish laugh of the four kids playing around. When it started to get dark, they all went back to their dwelling places. Hizashi, naturally went to the Hokage Tower to report his discoveries and theories, making Sarutobi Hiruzen fall into a contemplative silence. The Tōkō Clan was giving him more headaches the more they dug into their abilities.

With each discovery, he was more and more tempted to send them to a Shinobi Clan to train them as soon as possible but that would be detrimental to his plan to make them low-key.

Their abilities would astound the Shinobi world, and even more and more Villages would take the opportunity to kidnap them to either train them, study them or breed them to make more like them. None of the options bode well to Konoha, that’s why the Sandaime was hell bent on keeping them hidden from the spies’ eyes. Maybe he should make an exemption and make them enter the Academy earlier? No. He vetoed that idea immediately. To the public’s eyes, they were mere civilians and if they entered the Academy earlier, it would alert their spies of their abilities.

As such, he could only make the other Clans subtly take special care of them, to subtly train them in their Shinobi ways and keep investigating them. Soon, he released a notice to all the Clan Heads for an emergency meeting.

It was the middle of the night, many families were happily enjoying their time at home, yet the Heads of the Clans in Konoha promptly arrived at the Hokage Tower upon receiving the summoning. Obviously, the Hokage called for those Clans who had children in them so seven people sat around a big rectangular table quietly waiting for the Hokage to begin the meeting. Meanwhile, Sarutobi Hiruzen silently regarded the people in front of him.

If someone told him these toughened up killing machines, experts in their own branch, and Heads of the most important Clans in Konoha, were parents, he would laugh and send the person for a check up in the hospital.

As it was, even the ferocious Inuzuka Tsume was a mother of two children, though it was said lately that the father had run away. Sincerely, Hiruzen had never seen the matriarch’s Husband and was more inclined to believe that she just picked up some random guy to get pregnant.

Let it not be said that the Sandaime didn’t have a gossipy heart; it can all be blamed on the Icha Icha he read that made him create such outlandish stories in his mind. Like, the woman who was able to spend a night with Aburame Shibi was a woman with an insect fetish. He was not diminishing the Aburame Clan, after all it was a noble Clan in Konoha, it was just… insects and rolling in the sheets didn’t go well together.

And let’s not talk about the almost incestuous marriages in the Uchiha Clan just to preserve the purity of their abilities. Though, Hiruzen was of the mind that it was all about power with the Uchihas; he didn’t want to be suspicious of them but his gut told him that something was brewing inside the Clan so he was very wary of them. Well, the Hyūga also gave him a fair share of headaches too. For all they claimed to be better than the Uchihas, their rules were crueler and more messed up than any other Clan.

He didn’t want to get himself involved in their messy House Politics so he kept those problematic Clans at an arm’s length.

Hiruzen was of the mind that the most normal Clans were the Nara, Akimichi and Yamanaka, so he had better hopes of these Clans to take care of the girls. Well, the Inuzuka Clan is good too, as long as Tsume didn’t scare the girls away.

Cough, time to begin the meeting; he was getting hungry. Some Ichiraku Ramen didn’t sound bad. “I believe you are aware of the newest Clan we have acquired.” The Sandaime knew they had heard; if not in gossip, then by sending someone from their Clan to ask around. As he thought, everybody nodded. “Their Kekkei Genkai is too special to go around untrained so the reason you are here is that I would like to ask for your cooperation in training them.”

“And what is this so-called special Kekkei Genkai?” Fugaku, the Head of the Uchiha Clan asked. Everybody else in the room wanted to groan and roll their eyes. Of course the Uchiha would not accept another Kekkei Genkai being called special except for their Sharingan. The Sandaime’s gaze stopped on Hyūga Hiashi’s body, giving the man permission to talk.

“It is still being investigated but so far it has been discovered that their Kekkei Genkai has to do with their Chakra. Their Chakra is a semi-sentient entity…”

“That can’t be!” Fugaku sharply rejected. Although the others were silent they still looked a bit skeptical, except for Nara Shikaku. Being the Jōnin Commander and the advisor of the Hokage, he was very informed of the situation of the Tōkō Clan.

Hiashi completely ignored the Uchiha Clan Head’s rudeness and continued his report. “It also intrinsically responds to their emotions, that’s why they should be trained as soon as possible. There has already been a case where a child suffered from their Chakra lashing out. There was a new report this afternoon that suggests their Chakra is able to learn all the types of elemental Chakra available.”

“Has this been proven?” Yamanaka Inoichi asked. It was too incredible to hear about Chakra being so… free.

Hiashi quietly took out the flower Hanako gave his brother, Hizashi, and passed it to the Yamanaka Head.

“This…” Inoichi’s expression was a bit strange. He knew this flower was one of the most common flowers in Konoha, there was no other use of this flower but of being used as decorations and smelling good.

“It was made by the second daughter.” Hiashi quietly said. That made Inoichi look at the flower twice and his eyes widened in amazement.

“This is a flower.” Inoichi whispered though everybody was able to hear him. Akimichi Chōza even looked at the blonde man weirdly.

“We can see that, Yamanaka.” Fugaku sarcastically mocked.

“No, you don’t understand. This IS a flower.” Inoichi repeated his words.

If they all couldn’t understand the meaning of his words by repeating them, then they truly were not worth of being the Head of their Clans. Fortunately, they all caught the hint yet their faces turned a bit grave thinking of what was said about the girls. They thought about how strong Konoha would be with their addition in the Shinobi Forces. At the same time, they also thought what would happen if the other Villages discovered their abilities.

An extreme case, being Uchiha Fugaku, was thinking how he could make one of the girls marry into the Uchiha Clan to make the Clan even stronger. Special Chakra together with their Dojutsu would elevate the prestige of the Uchiha. They would be the strongest in Konoha and situations like being suspected by the whole Village would not happen again in the future. Fugaku’s mind began to rapidly form plans about the girls that he almost missed Inuzuka Tsume’s question.

“And then, Hokage-sama, how do you truly want us to take care of them?”

“A Chuunin, Maito Gai,” everybody’s face turned a bit weird hearing that name. Of course all the Heads knew about him. They knew about the father-son story. The Sandaime ignored their expressions and continued, “has become friends with the girls and he often… uh, plays with them, he takes them to the park to play.” Right, even Hiruzen felt weird talking about Gai and playing in the same sentence.

“Are you sure he isn’t already training them now that they are in their Spring of Youth?” Inoichi joked making the other Heads try very hard to suppress their smiles; well, all the other Heads except of the coffin faces of the Uchiha and Hyūga Heads. Even the Aburame Head lowered his head to hide his smile under his coat.

“Cough, well, he might as well be, nobody would say anything about it if he starts training them like that. The whole Village knows him so he has the best cover, as for you…” The Hokage trailed looking at them with an expectant look.

“So troublesome. The Nara Clan has some older kids; if they are willing, they can play with the girls.” Shikaku proposed.

“Tch, why didn’t I make all those useless men in my Clan marry some random girl to spawn some brats?” Tsume loudly complained making the rest, who were all men, sweat drop in their hearts. It was no wonder her Husband fled. “I only have my Hana and Kiba to keep them company, is that ok, Hokage-sama?”

“Ah, yeah, I don’t think that’s a problem, they seem to like babies.” A smile much like a doting Grandfather appeared on the Sandaime’s face. “They have taken a liking to Naruto.”

All the Heads jerked in surprise. Honestly, they had forgotten about him. They hadn’t forgotten the new Kyuubi Jinchūriki is a baby, it just slipped their mind that the baby was Uzumaki Naruto, the Fourth Hokage’s son. They didn’t know how to feel about that little detail as it was conveniently thrown to the back of their minds. But now that the Hokage mentioned baby Naruto, they began to get curious about him.

“Isn’t Naruto too young, barely two months, how had the girls taken a liking to him?” The Akimichi Head, Chōza, asked for the first time. He remembered his own son, Chōji, at that time wasn’t the most fascinating baby in the world, well, the little tyke wasn’t that much older, still being a baby. Chōza did think that babies were cute, just not that interesting.

“Last thing I knew, he was made the princess who had to be rescued by the girls.” Hiruzen mischievously smiled. Oh, he was so telling Naruto about that when he gets older. Tsume had no qualms in laughing out loud remembering how her own daughter uses her brother as a doll when playing. The men just sighed in grievance at knowing a fellow man was being used like that. “He even got a kiss for his effort.” A few chuckles sounded around the room at that. But then, the relaxed atmosphere was interrupted by someone slamming his hands on the table.

“This so called mission, the Uchiha Clan will withdraw.” Fugaku announced standing up.

“Explain.” The Sandaime ordered with a solemn face.

“The Uchiha Clan is already shouldering suspicions about being behind the Kyuubi attack in Konoha, which we deny. We don’t want to get involved with people who are close to the Jinchūriki. I am sure you understand, don’t you, Hokage-sama?” And with those words the Uchiha Head briskly walked out of the room leaving it in silence.

Hiruzen sighed, “It seems we have truly offended the Uchiha Clan.”

“But Hokage-sama, the reports…”

“I know Shikaku. That is why they are only under suspicions and not directly accused of being behind the attack. There is still so much we don’t know about that night and the only people able to tell us what happened are already dead.” The room descended into silence once more. “Right, we still need to solve the issues about the Tōkō Clan.”


	8. A Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The triplets begin their not-training.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We were scolded today by one of our teachers for not submitting homework on time. 
> 
> I have been in a slump due to the many things we have going on in classes, we have been in lockdown for 2months and the situation is not looking good. We don't know when we will be back to normal, perhaps until June...
> 
> Anyway, I am not sure if I will have the will to update any other fic this week apart from this one, but I hope to get better mentally in the next few days. I don't like being like this. 
> 
> Those out there, and those still inside, let's take care! We can do it!
> 
> Enjoy the chapter!

* * *

The girls were vibrating in excitement because they were once again being taken out to play by Maito Gai almost three weeks later. They were carrying backpacks that contained snacks made by their caretaker, Ai. Noticing that Maito Gai was going to often take the girls out, she had decided to buy those backpacks for the girls to carry some stuff like snacks, juice, toys and even a change of clothes. It all depended where they were going, the backpack’s items would change accordingly. The food was never missing, it was the other things that might change.

For example, this day they were going to visit the Inuzuka Veterinary. So, apart from the few snacks and water, it also had a change of clothes, just in case they got dirty playing with the dogs. If Ai knew that the girls could clean themselves squeaky clean using their Chakra, then she wouldn’t have bothered preparing the change of clothes. The girls didn’t care, they were just happy going out, listening to Genma -who again had nothing to do and was dragged by Gai to babysit the girls- explain the places they passed by on their way to the Inuzuka Compound.

“This is the Naka Shrine where people pray, buy amulets for their loved ones and even try to divine their future, well, that’s if you believe in that. These are some training areas where Genins are taught by their Jōnin sensei before or in between missions.” The girls looked with wide eyes while walking at the preteens exchanging blows with their mentor. Farther away, they could see older teens practicing with weapons. “Right, keep going or you might get hurt.” Genma reminded the girls who looked really cute with their eyes wide open in marvel.

He sighed and felt a bit grateful that he was with them since that Gai was very unreliable while taking care of toddlers. Genma glanced at his teammate walking on his hands which he dubbed training. Well, it wasn’t the first time Genma saw him doing that so he believed the green-suited teenager when he said it was training.

“We are about to enter the center of the Village, so don’t roam around,” Genma reminded the girls seeing more and more people around them. The girls obediently listened to his instructions and cleverly grabbed the backpack of the one who was in front, with Masako in the lead keeping a close eye on Gai who was in front of them. Genma was amazed at their smartness. “Here is the dango shop, we might come again when you are older. Then, there’s the sweet’s shop, this, we might buy some on the way back if you behave.” The girls’ eyes sparkled at the delicious and sweet smell coming from the shop. “Ok, our lunch stop is here.”

Luckily, this time their caretaker had given the girls some pocket money for their lunch and were able to afford a bowl of ramen at Ichiraku since both Genma and Gai were now broke and couldn’t invite them to eat. Living alone was not easy.

“Good afternoon, good sir owner of this venerable shop. We are here to enjoy of your youthful delicacies!” Gai greeted leaving the owner a bit befuddled, yet he quickly recovered and pasted a smile on his face.

“Welcome! Today we have a new ramen with vegetables!” The owner, Teuchi, promoted. His daughter was a little girl named Ayame who had been raised basically with her father’s cuisine which consisted mostly of ramen. Teuchi lately made this healthier broth that contained vegetables and the usual noodles for her, so seeing the three girls with the teenagers, he had no qualms in suggesting this new dish.

“Oh, it’s cheaper than the usual Tonkatsu Ramen!” Genma exclaimed seeing the poster of the new ramen on the board above. “Right, then four of those. What are you going to eat, Gai?”

“Shio.” Gai dully replied.

“Eh?” After skillfully sitting the girls at the bar of the little stand, Genma looked back at the bitterly crying Gai who was holding a handful of coins. Genma’s face showed rare pity for Gai, it seemed his teammate was running low on money and was only able to afford the cheapest ramen which was Shio ramen. Even the girls from the Tōkō Clan had more money than them. Genma cried in his heart at their hard life. “Right, so, four… eh, make it three vegetable and two Shio ramen.” In a way, he was supporting his friend and also because he had to start looking after his money before taking another mission.

“Coming right up!” Cheered Teuchi ignoring the miserable looks in the teenagers. It was not the first time he had seen youths eating the last of their money in his stand. That’s why, to make it worth it for those who were in need, he would try his best to make the ramen even more delicious. Which was proven by the ravenous way in which the teenagers ate their bowls of ramen completely forgetting about the girls who were having troubles eating theirs.

Teuchi chuckled at the adorable sight of the toddlers trying and failing in using their chopsticks so he went to the back of the shop and took three forks for them.

“Thanks!” The three crowed in unison making Teuchi smile brightly at them.

After their satisfying lunch, the five continued on their way to the Inuzuka Compound finally arriving at the place ten minutes later.

The front of the Inuzuka Compound was the Konoha Veterinary Clinic. Genma and Gai could already hear the shouts from the Head of the Clan, Inuzuka Tsume, who was most likely scolding someone from the Clan. Genma sweat dropped when he could clearly hear when the unfortunate fellow was kicked and then crashed on some wall. Both teenagers didn’t have the time to compose themselves as the girls were already running into the place.

Getting inside, neither teenager could see the girls in the lobby and started to suspect they had gone to the back of the clinic unbridled. They glanced at each other and directly ran in looking for them. It wasn’t that they didn’t trust the Inuzuka Clan, it was just that they might get hurt if they encountered a dog or any other animal they weren’t suppose to bother. When they found the girls, the two Chuunin almost had a heart attack at seeing them cuddling, pulling and running around a big, meanie black dog with an eye-patch.

“You must be Tsume’s guests. Come, she’s in the back.” The dog spoke and expertly carried the three girls on its back walking away. The teenagers apprehensively followed the dog making sure the girls wouldn’t fall down or simply anger their ride. Though, it seemed their worries were for naught since the three looked very used to riding… on dogs.

Inuzuka Tsume’s laugh startled them out of their thoughts. “So these are the girls from the Tōkō Clan. They are really cute.” She exclaimed while pinching their cheeks without scratching them with her very long and claw-like nails. She was a bit surprised seeing them very happily riding his partner, Kuromaru. That suggested they were not strangers to animals. It was understandable since, according to conjectures, they used to travel around and perhaps their old Clan had animals in it. “My kids are in the back, follow me.”

Minutes later, Tsume was presented with a very funny scene. The moment she had presented her daughter, Hana, and her son, Kiba, being carried by his sister to the three girls some sort of stand off occurred. Hana was curiously studying the toddlers in front of her, the toddlers were staring intently at Kiba who looked very spooked and ready to cry at the attention. But then the stalemate was broken off when Hana started pulling the girls towards the pen where the puppies were taken care of.

Tsume wildly laughed and turned to look at the teenagers, “Do they do that very often?” Call it a hunch but something was going on when the girls were looking at her son.

“They did the same with Hizashi-san’s son, Neji.” Genma mused. The second daughter had also intently stared at him that one time he carried her to the Akimichi shop, too. Tsume nodded and saved that information for later. It had to be reported to the Hokage.

The Inuzuka so called training was a game of hide-and-seek, though it was more like track-and-seek. They had to follow some subtle and not so subtle clues to find the hidden puppy. Tsume used to play this with Hana, and Kiba was going to go under the same training. Most of it was to familiarize them with some abilities Shinobis needed when doing missions. Tracking was one of them, and the Inuzuka Clan was an expert at it. The Hokage didn’t say specifically what they needed to learn so the Clans first had to haphazardly teach a bunch of skills and see who excelled in which.

As it was, the oldest, Masako, took the training slash game like fish to the water. Reports said that she was very detailed-oriented and it seemed she did the most thinking between the three. Though, her meticulous thinking made her hesitate too much. That’s how Hanako came to the picture. As soon as she listened to her elder sister babble all her thoughts, she came to a decision of where to go and what to do. 8 out of 10, her decisions were spot on. Meanwhile, Sachiko was the muscle in the group. She was in charge of catching all the puppies. Her two older sisters were too happy with leaving her with the task which she did very efficiently.

No matter if she had to crawl or get dirty, Sachiko did it.

Tsume could see the pattern. It had to be said that there had never been such a perfect team between Genins, not even the ones that had geniuses in them; she attributed it to them being sisters. During their meeting, there were some suggestions about separating them to make other teams more balanced but Tsume thought that would do more damage than not. Thus, she came to the conclusion that they must not be separated. Though that was her opinion, they had to see what decision would be made regarding them after all the Clans took their turn looking at them.

Between laughing, little expeditions around the Inuzuka Compound and snacks, evening came. Hana very cheerfully asked for the sisters to come back soon. Kiba didn’t even have a say in the matter as he wasn’t even a year-old, and Tsume just hugged them crooning at how cute they were. On their part, the sisters were a bit sad to part with the family but still planted a smile on their faces, they even gave a goodbye hug to the dog with the eye-patch. Needless to be said, they went back with a particular smell of dog.

Since they spent the whole afternoon running around, they were really tired to walk on their way back so it was up to Genma and Gai to carry them. Just when they passed by the hospital, Hanako had the thought of seeing her Daddy, so she made her thought known by yelling “Daddy!” continuously until the teenagers had no option but to take them to see their relatives. It was not visiting hours and the nurse told them that but seeing the puppy eyes from the three girls, the stern nurse relented a bit and let them visit for fifteen minutes, no more.

The fifteen minutes were spent by the three speaking at the same time about what they did that afternoon to the men who were laying on the beds, still in a coma. Genma and Gai very tactfully stood at the side talking between themselves but still keeping an eye on the girls. Fifteen minutes later, the stern nurse told them their time was over. The girls deflated visibly but they left the room without much fuss, if a bit teary-eyed. The nurse sighed but there was nothing that could be done; they were about to examine the condition of the two men.

Minutes after the girls left, the Head doctor of the hospital, Hyūga Hiashi and Nara Shikaku entered the room to see the progress in the two men’s health. The doctor did the usual checking on vitals and such confirming that they were still in a coma but their bodies were not damaged while Shikaku noted down all the information. It wasn’t a job he was supposed to do but the Tōkō Clan was registered as a Shinobi Clan so they needed to get as much information as they could. It was the Hyūga Head that got a surprise while checking the men.

“Did something happened these days to them?” Hiashi asked the doctor who was writing down a different health report that would be passed down to Shikaku.

The doctor looked up to the Hyūga Head. “Not that I know. We are still a bit busy tending to patients, let me go ask the nurses in charge of this floor.” Hiashi nodded.

“What’s the matter?” Shikaku asked as soon as the doctor left.

“The Chakra has changed.” With the Byakugan, Hiashi took a look once more to the bodies on the beds. It wasn’t that visible but to him who had been checking constantly on them, Hiashi noticed. “There seems to be more Chakra in them.”

“You mean they are recovering faster than what the doctors suggested?” Shikaku held a bit of hope. After all, having a Shinobi Clan without knowing the extent of their abilities was a danger to the Village too. They needed for either men to wake up as soon as possible.

“This…” Hiashi paused and paid close attention to the Chakra movement. “Not really.” He concluded. Though before he could explain, the doctor came back with news.

“Nothing happened… except for the nurse who let the Tōkō Clan girls in for a short visit not too long ago.” The doctor was a bit nervous but still faithfully reported. Thankfully, neither men pursued the matter and stood there pensive.

“Perhaps…” Hiashi hesitated.

“Getting in contact with people with the same type of Chakra has helped replenish their own. The only ones able to do that are the girls.” Shikaku guessed the Hyūga Head’s thoughts and expanded the idea. It was a theory but they still wrote it down on the report for the Hokage who, upon reading it, ordered to let the girls visit as often as they wanted. 

* * *

The girls’ Christmas and New Year was a subdued matter with only them, Ai and baby Naruto celebrating in their own room. Ai felt bad for the girls but they refused to go out of their room no matter how she explained and even coaxed for them that the festivities were very lively and they should go out to look at them. But the girls stood firm in their decision and didn’t leave the room. There was no particular reason why they refused to do so, they just simply didn’t want to go out.

They didn’t remember but their subconscious did. And it recalled their very first Christmas with their Dad and Uncle Padfoot. They were almost five months so they couldn’t celebrate it grandly. James and Sirius opened the girls’ mountain of presents in front of them and did a silly celebration with each opened present just to animate the tiny babies who smiled at their antics with gummy smiles. But what the girls liked was the little spark their Dad had conjured and slowly moved around earning their devoted attention.

If the spark disappeared, they would cry and if it appeared, they would laugh. They even went to sleep seeing that spark. Looking at them, James vowed to make something bigger for them the following Christmas. Perhaps the girls were waiting for their Dad to uphold his promise and that’s why they patiently waited in their room. Sadly, no one came to pick them up and do something special. Not on Christmas, not on New Year. Noticing their subdued behavior, Ai wanted to do something but she didn’t know what.

“Take them to the shrine. Perhaps going out of the orphanage would cheer them up.” Another caretaker suggested.

“They don’t want to come out of their room, I’m not sure if they would want to.” Ai said a bit dejected. She had tried that tactic but it seemed the girls knew she was lying and didn’t plan to take them out of the orphanage.

“Why don’t you rile them up? Make the yukatas first and explain they are for the visit to the shrine. Maybe that can help.” A young caretaker piped up. She did that when she was young and ended up looking forward going to the shrine a lot if only to flaunt her yukata.

Ai thought it was a nice idea and gave it a try. Making a yukata was easy to her, the difficulty was in choosing the correct fabric. Masako, Hanako and Sachiko were not your normal girls who liked to cover themselves in pink so she made one last truthful attempt with the sisters.

“Girls, we are going to visit the shrine in two days. Would you like to make a yukata for the visit?” The caretaker smiled at the playing girls with her most sincere expression. The three girls stared at her for a couple of seconds making Ai think she would also fail in this endeavor.

“What… yuta..yukaya..” Hanako suddenly asked but had troubles pronouncing yukata.

“Yukata.” Ai slowly pronounced it helping her. “It is a very pretty dress girls use to visit the shrine. Well, guys can use it too but it’s not common. What do you think? Should we go out and buy the fabric to make them?” Inwardly she was praying for the toddlers to say yes. Ai almost cried from happiness seeing how the girls went to their wardrobe to choose clothes to go out.

That meant the plan was a success and she was going to go shopping with the girls and baby Naruto, who she couldn’t leave alone as he was her responsibility.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's happening in the Wizarding World after the disappearance of the Potters and Sirius?
> 
> The Clans in Konoha already have a concrete plan for the girls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was supposed to post this on Wednesday but I somehow forgot... I have no more chapters written for this fic, so same as the others, it will take a while for it to be updated again. I ask patience from you. 
> 
> I have been reading a novel for two weeks and had no chance to write until yesterday that I finished reading the 400+ chapters from the novel :D I might update another fic later today. I want to go write nonstop but I get distracted by other things. And I still have homework to do xD
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter, thanks for reading!

* * *

The room was dark and silent, only the sound of the clock ticking away echoed in it. There was a huge bed in the middle of the room which housed a sick old man. It was late at night but he was bravely trying to remain awake. His health had taken a turn for the worse when his Heir was reported missing by the Goblins. He was aware what Sirius was going to do and he approved wholeheartedly; however, who would have thought that damn madman was after his Heir and the Potter kid?

Once he knew that Sirius hadn’t arrived at Japan as planned, he sent his House-elf towards his own copy of the Family Tapestry to check if Sirius was alive or dead. He sighed relieved when he was informed he was alive, the question was, where was he? He had sent his daughter Lucretia to search for him all around Japan but the results were grim. She couldn’t find hair nor hide of that problematic child. He had no choice but to recall his daughter, his recently widowed daughter, to make other plans.

The first thing he did after she was back was to name her temporary Lady of the Black Family until Sirius appeared.

The other members were very restless due to the disappearance of the Heir and some were even plotting to get some benefits in murky waters. Making Lucretia temporary Lady, curbed those scheming people’s efforts. Most were old men and women who wanted to get more out of the Black fortune and Arcturus had no other choice but to appoint more income to their assigned money to keep them happy for the time being, or until they died. Hopefully that happened sooner rather than later to spare some stress to his grieving daughter.

Arcturus never liked the person his daughter married but luckily, she and her Husband never let the Black name down. The only downside was the fact they didn’t have kids. The Heir matter wouldn’t be the mess it was right now.

However, in the evening, he had received a letter from an anonymous person saying they held Sirius’ unborn child. Frankly, Arcturus thought the news came rather late; knowing his grandson, he had expected a couple of girls claiming to have his kid growing inside them years ago. Who would have thought the brat would be more careful in that regard? The letter even mentioned the deed was almost a mistake as both Sirius and the woman were going through tough times; both had lost their own brothers around that time it seemed.

The woman in the letter vowed and swore the kid was Sirius’ as she had never been with another man that wasn’t him. Sirius was basically the first and only. Arcturus had to respect this woman who sounded very proper with her life matters and he was willing to accept her and the baby as long it was proved the kid was Sirius’. He had replied saying he wanted to meet her that day after she was out of her work, though it seemed she had second thoughts and hadn’t arrived.

Arcturus was waiting just in case something had happened to her and was running late. He wanted to hold onto any straw left.

“It’s strange that she came only after news of Sirius’ disappearance came to light.” Lucretia voiced her opinion, sitting by her Father’s bed, taking care of him and keeping him company. She couldn’t be blamed to think that way; after all, Blacks were renowned in the Wizarding Community. They had more of a darker image recently thanks to this late generation but the reputation was there. Girls wanting to take advantage of the fact Sirius was gone to push any random kid to the family claiming to be his was not surprising.

Their own family members had no scruples to scheme on the Black fortune, much less outsiders.

“Be patient.” Arcturus chided. He knew Lucretia was thinking on behalf of the Black Family but her impatience was always her weakness, therefore making mistakes. As an experienced old coot, Arcturus knew when to take advantage where it could be taken from.

“A woman is in the entrance claiming Master Black cited her.” A House-elf suddenly notified after it popped into the room.

“Let her in.” Arcturus order. “Help me up.” He then said to his daughter as soon as the elf was out. Father and daughter prepared themselves and waited with bated breath the person who claimed to have Sirius’ child growing inside her. Both were curious about what type of woman their Black Heir got himself involved with before he went missing, though nothing could prepare them for the woman who entered the room with a stern face and a straight back.

Arcturus forgot about being an imposing man to facepalm and sigh while Lucretia couldn’t help but laugh.

“Forgive my manners,” the older woman apologized after she regained her bearings. “I am just surprised that kid would be so audacious to have an affair with his own boss. In no way I am mocking the great and righteous Amelia Bones for her slipping.” Lucretia herself couldn’t believe her eyes.

“I am no less surprised; considering it was me who found him on my bed, naked.” Amelia replied with a neutral tone. Although the Bones were an upstanding line, it was not as ancient as the Blacks. So, she had to be civil with them despite the rather dark reputation they carry lately.

“I am almost convinced of your words, Madam Bones.” Arcturus said while gesturing for Amelia to take a seat beside Lucretia.

Amelia Bones had become the first woman Head of Aurors at the age of twenty-five and after five years of handling the most important division in the Ministry, there were rumors that she would become the new Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. At thirty, that was a great achievement as Bartemius Crouch was only able to get a hold of the post at forty-something. She was a no-nonsense person who liked things done properly and correctly. That was why it was mind-blowing for her to get involved with Sirius, that rogue.

“I assure you, Lord Black, that I am aware I am in no position to ask for the Black Family to accept the child I carry as I was not in any type of formal relationship with Sirius Black.” Her face turned a bit complicated mentioning his name. She held no special feelings towards the young man but she couldn’t deny the fact she had felt attracted to him that day he showed support towards the fact she had lost her brother and sister-in-law in a raid, leaving her niece, Susan, an orphan. “I am merely informing you of the fact that I spent a night with Heir Black resulting in a child; child that I can perfectly raise if you don’t acknowledge him.”

She was in no way begging to take her into the Family, she only hoped that the family from the Father’s side was aware of what had transpired between them. She knew the political problems the Black family was internally facing with the disappearance of Sirius, yet her task was just to inform that Sirius had an heir to his name. It was her proper personality that made her decide to present herself before Lord Black and let him decide the fate of her child regarding the Black Line he was part of. After careful and long thinking, of course.

“Your letter mention it is a boy.” Arcturus couldn’t see the bulge in Amelia’s stomach but she had expressed in the letter she was six-months pregnant.

“The Bones family, as any old family, has a special way to check if the baby is a boy or a girl. Our methods confirmed thrice the baby is a boy. If you don’t accept him, he will become the next Lord Bones.” Same as any family, if a boy was born in the family, they would instantly become Heirs. However, the Bones family was a bit more relaxed in that matter and as long as Amelia didn’t have any sons, Susan would become Lady Bones.

Amelia never in her wildest imagination would have thought that would happen. Deep inside, she hoped the Blacks accepted her child and made him Heir Black to leave Susan as Heir Bones as some sort of compensation for losing her parents. That was the sentimental part in her talking instead of her usual rational mind.

“I am very willing to believe you, Madam Bones. However, rules are rules.” Arcturus sighed. “If another name appears below Sirius’ in the Ancestral Tapestry when the baby is born, then we will acknowledge the boy as Heir Black. Also, since you weren’t married to Sirius, you cannot have any say in the family but I can allow you a say in the way the boy will be raised as his Mother after confirming he is a Black.”

Amelia was aware of it, so she nodded. Yet felt a bit offended at the way the old man worded his words. “Make no mistake, Lord Black. I can fair well without the support of the Black Family as I have no other thoughts beyond what I deem is my child’s right as Sirius’ son. With the Father gone, I hold more responsibility towards him and as such, I can just retract my claim of him being a Black child and leave you flailing with no suitable Heir. Now, if you excuse me.” She stood up and nodded at the two Blacks before leaving.

“A feisty, that one.” Lucretia spoke after Amelia left. “I wonder what Sirius did to tame such a woman in bed.”

“Don’t be so crass, Lucretia.” Arcturus scolded, though he had to agree with his daughter inwardly. If Sirius hadn’t faced such a crazy incident, then he would have nagged at the young man to marry Amelia Bones until his last breath. It didn’t matter that she was older by a decade than Sirius, her iron hand was needed to put the rebel Blacks in their places. He was still fighting with that crazy Cygnus about disowning Bellatrix Lestrange. No Black was ever sent to prison, and she had left a stain in the family by being cast to that infernal place.

Anyway, he needed to prepare in the case the child was a Black and he wasn’t able to live to see it.

* * *

The girls met Maito Gai by mid February.

Before that, Ai, their caretaker, made it her mission to let the girls enjoy going out of their room by holding simple games for them outside. The young woman had never lost hope that they would become normal girls who enjoyed spending time with other kids. The outing to the shrine had been a success and that filled Ai with renewed determination. Ai also frequently took them to visit their Dad and Uncle by orders of the Matron. She didn’t know why they had suddenly decided that, but she only needed to obey.

Thanks to that, the girls knew more and more about Konoha.

Although the orphanage was not on the total outskirts of the Village, it did take some time to arrive to the hospital. And depending on which route they took, they were able to go through different paths; like that street which had boutiques and bistros, the Yamanaka flower shop with its colorful display, the solemn Uchiha and Hyūga Compounds as well as the Police Station run by the Uchiha. They even once passed by the Stadium; Ai commented to the girls it was used to hold special events like Shinobi competitions.

Ai wasn’t well-informed about the life of a Shinobi, so she knew little about what they did except that it was because of them that Konoha was safe. Though most of all, she was a bit afraid of them. Either way, the young woman did her best to help raise the girls who would most likely become Shinobi one day. As a caretaker, whatever the girls did in the future had nothing much to do with her; yet as long as they were in her care, then they were her first priority. Them and little Naruto who always accompanied them in their outings.

So, when Maito Gai appeared, the girls ran towards him telling him about everything they had done and asking him if he was there to play all at the same time, easily confusing the teen who had been away in missions for almost two months to refill his otherwise thin pockets. He did notice the girls were more fluent in their speech even if they confused one word for another or said it completely wrong. Although he couldn’t spend all his time with them, he could still be considered having a bit of influence in their growth, or at least be able to watch them grow.

“Don’t get hasty, pretty flowers.” Gai said to calm them down. “Today we have been invited to one of the famous BBQ by the Akimichi. There will be lots of friends for you to play with!”

The Nara, Yamanaka and Akimichi Clans never did things separately. Although they had different areas they worked in normally for missions, there was always that Shika-Ino-Cho group. This mission was no different. The BBQ party by the Akimichi was one that only invited the Yamanaka and Nara Clan and a few other stragglers.

What the three Clans had in mind to test the girls about, Gai didn’t know. He was just in charge of taking the girls to the Akimichi Compound. The first thing the girls did as soon as they saw the Head of the Clan, Akimichi Chōza, was exclaim,

“So big!”

To which the Akimichi Head merrily laughed as it was a compliment for their Clan. “So these are the girls from the Tōkō Clan! They are very cute. This is my son, Chōji.” He presented by showing the girls the little bundle in his arms. And just like Tsume said, they somehow stared too intently into the kids’ eyes. Was it all kids or…

“Make way! Make way!” The Head of the Yamanaka Clan, Inoichi, interrupted Chōza’s thoughts. “Chōza! You said my girl was cute! Why are other girls ‘very cute’ when my girl is only ‘cute?!” The man raged against his friend.

“So troublesome.” Shikaku sighed as he also made his way towards the entrance. “Why don’t you see for yourself, the girls are there.” He pointed at the triplets who were confused as to what was going on.

“Oi! Oi! Oi!” Inoichi exclaimed after he examined the girls. “How old are they? How can they look elegant, pretty and handsome in that baby fat of theirs?” The other two men could only sigh. The two were very generous by calling them cute because all babies looked cute and adorable. How could this Inoichi make out other features in babies who were barely growing their teeth?

“Yeah, they are very different that it somehow surprises me they are sisters.” Shikaku commented as he had seen them frequently when they visited their Dad and Uncle in the hospital. “Here, this is Shikamaru.” And so, he presented his 5-month-old son to the triplets who stared very intently at the sleeping boy. “Aiya, my boy seems to be very popular.” Not long ago, they just carelessly looked at Ino, Inoichi’s daughter, and patted her head but they paid close attention to his son.

“Why do you think they do that?” Inoichi pondered leaving aside his hurt pride as his daughter was basically ignored by the girls.

“Do you think it has to do with… you know?” Chōza whispered but didn’t mention the Kekkei Genkai as that was still a secret between the Clans.

“Who knows, maybe they are just curious of the opposite sex.” Shikaku said obviously warning the other two not to talk any longer about the topic until they were alone. Although saying they toddlers were interested in the opposite sex also garnered him the weird glances of his friends.

“Well, now that you are here. Just enjoy!” Chōza boomed in a loud voice.

The atmosphere in the Akimichi BBQ was very lively. The Akimichi Clan and the Nara Clan was more numerous than the Yamanaka Clan, yet when the three got together, it was a sight to see with the myriad of red-heads, brunettes, blondes, even a few dark blue heads. The alluring smell of meat being cooked permeated the air and made everybody waiting for the food to be served to drool. Though, while everybody was waiting for the food, three men were racking their brains thinking what to train the Tōkō girls in.

The Inuzuka Clan could perfectly and easily use their specialization in tracking to train the girls, yet each of these three Clans had abilities specific to their Clans’ Chakra. The girls couldn’t manipulate their shadows like the Nara Clan, they couldn’t grow their bodies like the Akimichi Clan, nor enter the minds of others to control them like the Yamanaka Clan.

That’s why the only thing the three could come up with they could teach the three girls was to reinforce their teamwork. It might sound redundant considering they are sisters, and triplets to boost. But they knew that each girl was different, which at some point might interfere in their teamwork.

That’s why they came up with The Scavenger Hunt.

The Scavenger Hunt compiled some of the missions Genin must do after graduating, like finding a lost item, do some errands, or catch something for the older kids who would be participating; there were also some other common games like jigsaw puzzles, or building with toys. Things that would require the help of teammates to complete. Of course, given the small age of the girls compared to the other kids, their missions and games would be a bit easier. And there was also the prize of getting a discount in the shops the Clans managed. Even if the kids themselves couldn’t use it, the adults in the family could.

Shikaku, Chōza and Inoichi had read the report from Tsume declaring not to separate the girls as each of them more or less had a role to play in the group. The three Clan Heads would, for the time being, do the same, yet when the girls grow up, they would of course be made to cooperate with others.

During the whole game, the three man could see, firsthand, the sisters use their Kekkei Genkai -as they had planned the games for them to use it. The idea was to know what it could do and from that create another training plan. So far, they had seen the triplets use their Kekkei Genkai to float down the object they had to look for from a tree; also, how they mischievously changed the colors of the building blocks to the ones they liked. Apart from that, they even cutely held each other’s hands when they walked through a place they didn’t know when doing errands for others.

The three men thought it was very smart of them to not separate, to have the other in sight, in unknown places in case something happens. That reminded them to make recon missions for when the three were older.

At the end of the day, the men got the information they needed and a base to work from, while the girls had fun and ate a lot. Gai had to use the help of two other older kids to carry the girls back to the orphanage seeing how they were dozing off from their rather hectic afternoon.

Later at night that day, the Clan Heads held a meeting again. Though, this one was on their own volition but the Hokage was also invited to inform him at the same time the progress the Tōkō girls were making.

From the seven Clans that could get in touch with the girls for their training due to the small children in their Clans, apart from the Uchiha Clan that didn’t want to get involved, four had already had the chance to interact with the sisters. Only the Hyūga and the Aburame Clan were missing. Though, it seemed that the Hyūga clan with Hizashi, had already started the approach. Even the Clan Head, Hiashi, said that he would leave the work to his brother as he had a son the same age as the girls.

“Their Kekkei Genkai, or more like their Chakra, doesn’t seem to be restricted like ours. In fact, it is very different. Putting aside the fact that they most likely are able to learn and use all the Elements in Chakra, I cannot see how they can use the simple Jutsus.” Shikaku informed.

“You mean the Clone and Transformation Jutsus?” Tsume asked. Shikaku nodded.

“This theory can be backed with the fact that their Chakra system is different than ours. Although it is adapting to be like ours, I am not sure how long it would take considering the massive amount of Chakra they have.” Hiashi added, which made the other Clan Heads ponder about the situation.

“There have been exceptions, to those who graduate.” The Aburame Clan suddenly said. That reminded the other Clan Heads of their special cases, like Maito Gai, whose forte had always been Taijutsu. His Genjutsu and Ninjutsu were mediocre at best, and the Academy managed to graduate him with only his Taijutsu skills alone, which are certainly nothing to scoff at. Even the Hyūga Clan, a Clan which also depended a lot on Taijutsu, had to admire his abilities despite Gai being only a teen.

“Would it be necessary to make an exception with them?” Inoichi wondered aloud the same question that revolved around the other’s heads.

“It’s too early to conclude that.” Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Hokage, suddenly interjected. “As Hiashi said, their Chakra system is adapting to ours. It is learning, yet it is learning alone. The best way for it to actually learn how it should move is to use Ninjutsu. Who is the best among you at hand seals and Ninjutsu?”

The question stumped the Clan Heads as nobody could claim they were the best. Finally, it was the Aburame Clan Head who replied. “The Uchiha Clan.” A round of sighs was heard around the room. The Uchiha Clan who had washed their hands off the matter and were not willing to provide aid even if the matter could help the whole Village. Their Clan Head, Fugaku, whined about being under suspicion for the recent attack of the Kyuubi, yet he also didn’t help his Clan erase those suspicions by extending their hands to improve the Village after the tragedy.

“Can the Aburame Clan take care of that?” The Hokage asked. The Aburame Clan was not renowned for their Ninjutsu but their Chakra control was top-notch. How else would they be able to control and communicate with their nests of insects?

Aburame Shibi, the Clan Head, nodded. “Survival, too.” He also proposed his own training for the girls.

“Survival can only be trained when they are a bit older. At their age, it is most important to develop their motor and intellectual skills.” Tsume, the only one among the group with an older kid, said.

Shibi nodded again, accepting the woman’s opinion as he also thought his involvement with the Tōkō girls would come later on. “Hand seals, then.” He compromised. Ninjutsu, after all, began with learning the hand seals a Jutsu needed to be released. With time, as soon as they had them all memorized, they could begin with their adroitness in using them.

“Each Clan has decided on what to train them in?” Hiruzen asked to bring the meeting to a close. It was late, he wanted to go home and finish reading his Icha Icha. Thankfully, the Clan Heads seemed to have reached a consensus and it all only depended on what each Clan taught the girls and what conclusions they could come up from their training.

It was going to be a long mission for these Clan Heads.


End file.
